# LIBRARY OF COXliRKSS. t 

UNITEnrSTATES OF AMEI(ICA.| 



3<^c 



THE 



SCIENCE OF EVIL; 



OR 



FIRST PRINCIPLES OP HUMAN ACTION 



TOGETHER WITH 



THREE. LECTURES: 



SALVATION AND DAMNATION BEFORE BIRTH, OR THE SCIENTIFIC 

AND THEOLOGICAL METHODS OF SALVATION COMPARED.— 

SUNDAY;— ITS HISTORY, USES AND ABUSES.— 

PRAYER;— THE TRUE AND FALSE 

METHODS COMPARED. 



By JOEL MOODY 



/ 



TOPEKA, KANSAS: 

CRANE & BYRON, PUBLISHERS. 
1871. 




J.ir"'' 



A'' 



Entered according to act of Congress, in the Year 1870, by 

CRANE AND BYRON, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



Printed at the "Commonwealth" State Printing House. 



I InT T E D U C T 1 N 



The Science of Evil the author places before the 
public That Evil should claim the dignity of Science, 
will, doubtless, appear absurd to some; it will startle 
others, and a few will start back in holy horror at 
the thought. But we would caution the reader to 
suspend a judgment till an investigation is begun. 
That the title is no advertising dodge, will be made 
strikingly manifest before he has mastered its pages. 

Evil has long bewildered the thinking world. Why 
Evil is? has long been a complex question. Since the 
dawn of history a theological notion has embraced a 
scientific fact; and the myths of the ages have added to 
the complexity. It is thus^many hypotheses have been 
put forth to account for it. The early mind struggling 
for truth, seized a fact of ^N'ature, and dressing it in a 
mythical garb, passed it down in song to the world. 
The explanation has come from the imagination, and 
has been strictly theological instead of scientific. Yet 
every explanation has had some truth in it. Myths are 
by no means devoid of truth. They are the harbingers 
of Science ; the nursery songs of the world's infancy. 



iv INTRODUCTION. 

The true relationship of Theology to Science, we have 
endeavored to point out. 

Something has been said upon definition, and the 
author's method is one which must commend itself; for 
it aims to destroy the wrangle so deploringly prevalent 
among writers on Ethics and Philosophy. How often it 
is, that two persons or two schools of philosophy will 
dispute for years, when at last it is found, the only 
difference between them is in the definition of words. 
They agree about the substance, but fight over the 
shadow. This is the whole story of the controversy 
between the Idealist and Materialist ; the whole story 
about Fate and Freedom. There is truth in both ; and 
the one is dependent upon the other. The Science op 
Evil aims to throw light on this controversy. 

We would caution the reader about the word Laio. 
As words are only symbols of thought, they cannot be 
entirely divested of a figurative sense. Most frequently 
we talk about a law of Nature as an active force ; 
whereas, a law is only an effect of the action of Force 
on matter. Strictly speaking then, a law of Nature can- 
not be violated. Yet how frequently it is said: If we 
do not violate a law of Nature it will be well with us. 
As well say, however, that we can violate an eclipse of 
the moon as a law of Nature. There is no way by 
which we can get rid of this figurative sense, without 
circumlocution. It is in this way, scientific precision is 
frequently sacrificed to the idioms of speech ; for exam- 
ple, we say : " The sun sets," and " Nature's Laws are 
broken." With this caution the author will be under- 
stood. 

Particular attention is called to Chapter V, on the 



INTRODUCTION. 



"Origin of Morals and Science;" and to Chapter VI, 
" How Theology Evolves Science," for a complete expo- 
sition of the author's method. That the world is in a 
continual transition, that it is forever "a becoming," 
and never reaches any special goal, which can be 
clearly defined; that Theology must precede Science 
and is typical of it; and in fact that the whole religious 
history of the world is only typical of Science, and all 
the god-names are only symbols of Force, he has en- 
deavored to make quite plain. Force personified in the 
god ; is only Force made real in Science. The tyranny of 
a monotheistic worship , and the comparative freedom 
of apolytheistic one, is strikingly manifest throughout 
the world. The latter is conducive to the advancement 
of Science ; the former is inimical thereto. Forcible 
illustrations of this fact are given in the Jewish god- 
thought and the early Catholic church on the one hand, 
and in Grecian theology and Protestantism on the 
other. Science must be strangled by the hand of the 
ancient Jew and Catholic, while it was nourished by 
the Greek and Protestant. Conclusive reasons are 
given for this, which the facts of history support. 
That the freedom of Science will one day take the 
place of a theologic tyranny, and that the scientific 
lecture will take the place of the Sunday sermon, is 
a fact shortly to be realized. It is a fact already 
knocking at the door of the Church. 

The Chapter on "Special Evils," answers many 
complex questions, and throws some light on the 
mystery of a world's villainy. The tyranny of man 
over woman, producing in the latter a prostitution of 
her body, is briefly treated in the Chapter on " The 



vi INTRODUCTION. 

Social Evil.' That Prostitution in woman obeys a 
law of Nature, and ought no more to be punished by 
man than a man for saying his prayers, may at first 
seem destructive of good morals. But, when it is 
known that man demands of woman a submission to 
his own lusts, and she only obeys through the stern 
commands of Want and Worship, he may be led to 
reverse this judgment. By getting a glimpse at his 
own hidious guilt, the crime of woman disappears. 

The author has aimed in The Science of Evil, to 
give a connected and logical view of the First Prin- 
ples of Human Action, That it is a full and complete 
view, he by no means claims ; but if he has opened the 
way to a deeper research into the causes of crime, so 
that it can be dealt with upon humane and scientific 
principles, and not according to the caprices of igno- 
rance ; if he has given an impetus to the search after 
Truth, though he may have erred in his own conclu- 
sions ; or if he has in any way directed man to a higher 
life, he has gained his object. 

It pains the author to find that a few typographical 
errors have crept into the book. This reminds him of 
the world's most self-evident truth, that: To err is 
human. He would therefore caution the reader to read 
''Plato," not "Pluto," on page 134, and "god-men," 
not " god-man," on page 123. Other minor errors are 
left to the disposal of the intelligent reader. 

Joel Moodt. 

ToPEKA, Kansas, January 1, 1871. 



CON^TENTS 



CHA.PTEE I. 

(Page 1^1;) 

THE ETERNITY OF EVIL:— Evil cannot be Defined:— A Fable :— Conflict of 
Desires : — Vexed Questions : - Morality born of Evil : — Ah Objection An- 
swered : — A Distinction : — Evil Precedes Man on Earth : — Argument from Man's 
Nature : — The Moral Sense : — A Dialogue : — Face to Face Discussion : — Further 
Complexity: — Christian Morals: — No Definition of Morality: — Varying Con- 
ditions : — Varying Moral Standards : — Variation Organic. 

CHAPTEE 11. 

(Page 31-51.) 

PERFECTION IN MAN FOREVER IMPOSSIBLE :— An Illustration :— Condi- 
tions Govern the Will : — Conditions Govern Character : — " Stars Differ :" — 
Ideals Ditfer:— The Gods Change:— No Perfect Estate:— A Vital Difference:— 
Tlie Golden Rule Fails : — A Sympathetic Ideal: — Ignorance has to be torn out 
of Man by the Roots :— A Subtlety Unmasked. 

CHAPTER III. 

(Page 51-68.) 

DIVERSITY IN UNITY :— Nature an Infinite Paradox :— Unity of Type :— Em- 
bryos Alike : — Man's Mentality Typified in the Animal Below Him : — Vice in 
tlie Animal World : — Man's Dark Nature Typified: — A DifiFerence : — The Ideal 
Conception: — A Summary: — The Benefit of a Doubt. 

CHAPTER lY. 

(Page 68-94.) 

MATTER AND FORCE:— The Polarity of Force :— What a Law is:— Conflict of 
Forces: — Like Atoms Like Motions :— Like Begets Like : — The Law of Impres- 
sion : — The Mystery of Inheritance; — Darwin's Theory of Gemmules.- — A 
Modification of Force : — Man a Storehouse of Forces : — A Strange Warfare of 
Gemmules: — Mental Inheritance in Society : — The Present Built on the Past: — 
Examples in Religion and Law: — The Laws of Force Explain the Phenomena 
of Reproduction: — A Few Cases in Point: — Force the Infinite Unit: — Some 
Conclusions. 



viii CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

(Page 94-140.) 

THE ORIGIN OP MORALS AND SCIENCE:— The Genesis of Action:— The 
Cause of Animal Motion : — Origin of Plants and Animals : — Hunger, a Princi- 
ple of Telegraphy :^)rigin of Morals : Force Compulsory and Force Discre- 
tionary: — Law of Supply and Demand: — Mental Faculties Evolved: — "New 
Theory of Population :" — Definition of a Faculty : — No Definition of Religion : — 
What Produces Religion : — Fear, the Cause of Worship :— Reason in Animals : — 
Genesis of the God-Thought :— History Corroborates it : — The Fire Worshiper : — 
A Revelation of Force : — The Genesis of Science : — A Higher Phase of Wor- 
ship : — Science Born of Theology : — Dawn of the Esthetic : — From the Real to 
the Typical : — Anthropomorphism : — When Science will be Enthroned : — Infer- 
ences about God : — Men not Actors but Recipients. 

CHAPTER VI. 

(Page 140-170.) 

HOW THEOLOGY EVOLVES SCIENCE :— Warfare anion ' the Gods :— Germ Cells 
of Astronomy: — Number and Equality Divine : — Grecian Astronomy: — Eclip- 
ses Objects of Fear: — From Ptolemy to Copernicus: — No Stationary Period: — 
Causes of the Dark Ages: — Unsafe to 'Biblical Doctrine: — Reason and History 
Agree: — '•ome Conclusions: — A Phantom Necessary : — Why Science must be 
Scourged: — Man compelled to be Accurate: — A Continual Warfare in Nature: 
— I he same Causes gave Greece her Homer, and Europe her Milton : — Resist or 
be Extinguished : — Science Explains the " Fall :" — Evil drives to Activity. 

CHAPTER VII. 

(Pag© 170-204.) 

SPECIAL EVILS :— A List of Evils:— Let the Actor Boware:— How shall I act? 
says Morals : — Fables are Moral Axioms : — The Law of Common Prudence : — 
Two Illustrations : — Negative and Positive Evil: — A Question Answered: — 
Emotional Faculties are Bliiid: — Some Physical Evils: — VTan only Tortured 
into Logical Thought and Moral Af'tion : — Wisdom alwavs Comes through 
Evil:— How God talks :— Theft, God's Minister :— A Case in Point :— The Thief a 
Necessity: — The Meaning of Sorrow: — Without Shade no Picture: — Erery 
Force True to Itself : — Every Wrong Act has its Penalty : — Sin cannot be For- 
given : — Perverted Faculties : — A Lust after God : — The Religious Riddle Solved: 
— Evils of Love: — Love should have Eyes. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

(Page 204-229.) 

THE SOCIAL EVIL :— Propositions to Prove:— Why Woman "orships Man :— The 
Castles of Love shattered at a Blow : — The Religious Sentiment more Lasting: — 
The <^ause of Prostitution: — Want and WoYship Produce It: — Cases in Poinf: 
No Law of Nature Violated : — Maw the Cause : — Church and State Support It : 
— False Method of Cure : — The Dragon's Teeth : — A Picture : — Cause of Failure : 
Fallen Women of Boston : — An Experiment:— What Man's Lust Demands of 
Woman:— Sympathy cannot Save : — The Fire of this Hell in Man's Blood: — 
Woman must be taught Her True Condition :— Woman must still be Tortured 
to Educate the Frontal Lobes. 

LECTURES. 

■ (Page 231-342.) 

SALVATION AND DAMNATION BEFORE BIRTH. 
SUNDAY.— Its History. Uses and Abuses. 
PRAYER.— The True and False Methods Compared. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE ETEBNITY OF EVIL. 

§. 1. Lord Bacon said : " Sciences are facts 
generalized." There are many facts in the world 
called evils ; collectively they may be termed Evil. 
These facts generalized, and their common meaning 
found, constitute the Science of Evil. Evil is, and 
therefore means, something. It has been doubted 
that Evil is, — but this is only a matter of definition ; 
the facts called Evil have not been denied altogether; 
another name has often been given some of them, 
yet the same facts remain. It will be our task to 
treat of these facts, under whatever name they may 
have borne, to find their meaning. What Evil is, it 
were foolish enough to attempt to answer. Force 
and matter are, yet no one has ever told us lohat they 
are. TV^e have become cognizant of certain effects 
of the action of force on matter, and have desig- 
nated these effects by certain names, expressing 
quality, quantity or condition. We say certain 
effects are good, and certain other effects are bad. 



2 THE ETERNITY OF EVIL. 

So also of men, laws, institutions, actions; they are 
good or bad. Definition becomes impossible when 
we ask : Was Feudalism and the Inquisition good 
or bad, as political and religious institutions among 
Christians ? was slavery good or bad, as a biblical 
and Jewish institution? were l^ero, Jesus, and Lin- 
coln, evils as men ? For we find mankind divided 
in opinion on all these questions. There is a no, 
and a yes, to greet us at every turning. The N'orth 
and the South answer yes, and no, in regard to Lin- 
coln. The Christians and. the Jews who crucified 
Jesus answer yes, and no, in regard to him. Is 
Mahometanism, or Christianity, good or bad ? The 
Christian and the Moslem give adverse answers, and 
have often fought over this question. "Were the 
wars, which resulted in regard to opinion, evils or 
blessings? l^ow, as when waged, the public is 
divided in opinion. Is war an evil ? Opinion is 
divided; and thus definition of Evil is impossible. 
There is no common consent to establish a defini- 
tion. The reason will soon be made manifest. A 
living author, a deep thinker and close reasoner, 
Herbert Spencer, has volunteered an answer in his 
"Social Statics:" "All evil results from the non- 
adaptation of constitution to conditions." And he 
says, " this is true of everything that lives." About 
the same time Tlieodore Parker, in nearly the same 
language, defined Evil to be "The non-fulfilment of 
the conditions of animal life." Tlie former is less 
restricted, but it still lacks comprehensiveness ; and 



CANNOT BE DEFINED. 3 

while true, may define a good, as well as an evil. It 
would be quite as true sometimes to say, evil results 
from adaptation of constitution to conditions; for 
" What is pleasure and life to you, is pain and death 
to me*" as the hare said to the hound. The adapta- 
tion of the rabbit's constitution to the conditions of 
a dog's stomach, brings a good, as well as an evil. It 
makes the dog happy, but the rabbit has to die for 
it. If an evil to the latter, it is a blessing to the 
former. JS'or can it be argued that the evil to the 
rabbit is the non-adaptation of its constitution to the 
conditions which devoured it, for such animals as 
rabbits are made for carnivorous animals to live on, 
and to be deprived of them would bring death to a 
large class of animals. True, its life was shortened; 
but this may be a good or an evil. This may be said 
in regard to death in general. Death is not always 
an evil — as when an aged man, ripe with years and 
experience, goes down to the grave — yet death may 
be said to always result from the non-adaptation of 
constitution to conditions. Here the definition would 
include, a great good to man, and not an evil. As 
well define a circle to be always the result of a curved 
line; so are an ellipse, parabola, hyperbola, and in- 
finite other curves, all radically different from the 
circle. The definition lacks definiteness, and, while 
true, may therefore define a good as well as an evil. 
The terms of which it is composed are variable 
quantities, as conditions and constitutions may both 
admit of an infinite number of modifications, pass- 



4 THE ETEENITY OF EVIL. 

ing from the extreme of good to bad, and from the 
finite to the infinite, as a curve may pass from the 
finite circle to the infinite hyperbola. But let ns 
bring another element into the case of the dog and 
the rabbit. The rabbit eats the young apple 'tree in 
the farmer's orchard ; this brings pain and annoy- 
ance to the farmer, blighting his hopes, and render- 
ing his labor useless. Here is an evil to the farmer; 
yet there was a perfect adaptation of the tender little 
apple tree to the stomach of the rabbit, which, serv- 
ing for food, doubtless gave it pleasure. The truth 
is, the apple tree is adapted to more uses than one, 
and the stomach of the rabbit to more kinds of 
plants than one. The rabbit wanted it for food; 
the farmer also wanted it for food in its fruit time; 
and in the conflict of desires there was pleasure to 
the rabbit and pain to the farmer. He now hunts 
it with his dog, who devours it; whereupon the 
farmer rejoices, and the dog has a fine meal. The 
apple tree might as well cry out against the rabbit, 
as the rabbit to cry out against the dog, evil! or, 
*' l!^on-adaptation of constitution to conditions !" or, 
"[N'on-fulfillment of conditions !" 

Here is a fable : A lamb was caught b}' a wolf, 
and not^killing her at once, after the first fright was 
over she began thus to the wolf: "Ah, me ! How 
cruel you are ! "What a terrible e^dl has come npon 
me, of which I am entirely innocent! How wicked 
you are ! My constitution is not adapted to this 
^tate of thiiio-s! How dreadful to die thus! There 



A FABLE. 5 

must be a fit punisliment in store for you at tlie 
hands of God!" 

To whom the wolf responds: "You httle, im- 
pudent wretch, you deny the wisdom and goodness 
of God ! Has he not made me as I am, and you as 
you are, and the grass as it is ? The grass to grow 
from earth, you to eat the grass, and I to eat you ? 
You chide God for his providence. He has provided 
food for all his creatures, both differing in kind; 
grass for you, and flesh for me; yes, lamb's flesh 
occasionally. You talk about evil to you ! Your 
soul will go to the paradise of sheep, when I eat 
your body. It would be truly a terrible evil to me, 
could I not get lamb's flesh occasionally ; in fact, I 
should die outright of starvation, and God's wisdom 
be turned into foolishness, and his government 
come to naught. How was this you defined about 
this state of things ? Your ' constitution not adapted 
to these conditions ?' Why, you little scouting and 
blaspheming atheist ! Your constitution is perfectly 
adapted to all the conditions — death and my stomach; 
therein I will assimilate you, and you will be made 
bold and wolfish. Your death is no evil. God 
designed, in his eternal plan, that you should die 
as food for me. I feel the gnawings of hunger now, 
his commands writ in my stomach to eat you. Be- 
sides, were the world's great Carnivora, who roam 
the wide world, and soar in its air, and swim in its 
sea, to take the advice of one little silly sheep, that 
has been out to grass all its life, in a narrow and 



6 THE ETERNITY OF EVIL. 

short pasture, entirely undeveloped in head and body, 
saying : ' Oh ! ye great Carnivora, stop your eating 
flesh, thus making misery in the world ; eat grass, 
as we do.' Why, we would all be dead in a month's 
time. You fool ! A spear of your food would make 
any one of us vomit. You have to assimilate it for 
us. Then, if we should all die, very soon the world 
would be filled with pestilence, from rotten carcasses 
which ought to have been devoured before they 
decayed. Shortly after we died, you would die of 
disease, so I might as well eat you now, for your 
kindred's sake, and the good of the world. Besides 
all this your constitution, physically and mentally, 
is entirely adapted to me. Physically you are good 
to eat ; mentally you are a coward, and don't dare to 
fight me. God Almighty made you so, for which I 
give him thanks daily, and now especially. You can- 
not bite — you have no canine teeth; I have. Look 
here ! God made me so." And he opens his mouth 
and displays a dreadful state of jaw; and the lamb, 
trembling in fear, had just time to gasp out, " The 
Devil, not God, made you," and it was torn in pieces. 
Kow the farmer comes in, and is greatl}^ pained 
to find one of his fine lambs devoured by a wolf; 
and he hunts many a day to kill him; whereas, it 
was but yesterday he hunted with dog and gun 
to kill the rabbit which had eaten his tree. The 
wolf, and the rabbit, he calls distressing evils, which 
ought to be hunted down. Man reasons from self- 
ishness and ignorance. The lamb will give him 



CONFLICT OF DESIRES. 7 

wool, and it is an evil for the wolf to kill it. The 
rabbit will eat the young trees, and it is a great 
good for the dog to kill it. Yet the rabbit has the 
same right to life that the sheep has, and the wolf 
to food that the dog has. The evil comes in the 
conflict of desires ; the conflict to obtain that which 
is adapted to different uses and conditions. 

;N^ow there are carnivorous and herbivorous men. 
There are men whose constitutions are as widely 
different as the wolf and the lamb ; and the condi- 
tions of happiness are as widely opposite. A Carib 
delights in a roasted captive ; aFeejee Islander prays 
to obtain the wife of his enemy, that he may eat her; 
the Dyaks of Borneo, to secure the services of a 
slave in the next world, waylay their enemies to 
bring home their heads. They say, " White men 
read books; we hunt for heads instead.'' Let a 
refined young lady of our highest civilization fall 
captive to a Feejee, and it would be the fable just 
repeated of the wolf and the lamb. The gentle and 
timid poet Keats, lamb-like in disposition, was torn 
to death by wolfish critics — a death more cruel than 
by engines of wood and iron, with which Christians 
used to torture the life out of each other for opin- 
ion's sake, and who could look upon these death 
tortures " reveling with joy." 

Because men are adapted to the varying condi- 
tions in which they live, they often hunt each other 
down like wild beasts ; war becomes not only their 
amusement, but means of livelihood. Nay, it be- 



8 THE ETERNITY OF EVIL. 

came the religious duty of a Christian king, near 
the close of the seventeenth century, to drive out 
the Scotch from their native heaths, with ruthless 
barbarity, not unlike a western wolf-hunt. For like 
crimes. Christian bishops gave him their support, 
and called him the darling of Heaven, and prayed 
" that Grod might give him the hearts of his subjects 
and the necks of his enemies." In a community of 
wolves and sheep, or dogs and rabbits, the sheep and 
rabbits die first, and when food becomes scarce and 
difficult to obtain, then the weakest wolf or dog ; and 
the strongest perishes last. All those who have to 
perish first will set up their complaints against the 
survivor ; and the weakest of all is the most to com- 
plain; not because the most injured, but simply 
because the most imperfect; not because of its 
"unfitness to the conditions of existence," but be- 
cau-se of its lack of force, to change these conditions 
in its own favor. A child does not die because unfit 
to live, but because too weak. 

Yet, because Evil cannot be defined, from the 
fact that conditions and constitutions are continually 
changing, both in earth and man, it is not therefore 
meaningless. Even the conflict of ideas which itself 
precludes definition, gives it a meaning, terrible as 
well as significant. What, then, does it mean ? It 
will be the object of this volume to partially answer; 
and which is meant only to prepare the way for 
future labor and thought. 



VEXED QUESTIONS. 9 

§. 2. Does Evil exist in accordance with natural 
law, or in violation of it? or both in accordance 
with and in violation of it ? For example : A man 
is killed in the prime of life by lightning in the 
harvest field; or, a Lincoln is killed b}^ the hand of 
a Booth ; or, Uriah is slain in battle by the com- 
mand of David ; or, a man is stoned to death, by the 
Lord's command, for gathering sticks on the Sab- 
bath ; or, a man is murdered for his money in the 
highway, or for jealousy in a house of prostitution ; 
a man betrays his friend, for money, that he may be 
naade a victim to the religion of his countrymen ; a 
priest of the Hindu religion cuts off the head of his 
mother, she consenting, that her ghost may torment 
and pursue to death a man who had stolen forty 
rupees out of his house ; or, a minister of the Chris- 
tian religion roasts the feet and heads of women, to 
extract a confession of hidden gold, or whips his 
son, less than three years old, to death for not saying 
his prayers in a manner contrary to that taught him 
by his own mother before she died. Are these cases 
in accordance with or in violation of natural law, or 
both ? Wherein is a law of E'ature violated in the 
lightning's stroke ? In other words, can !N'ature act 
unnaturally ? If not, then what law of l!^ature did 
the man violate who was killed by lightning in the 
harvest field ? If any, what ? But further : Is Evil 
the penalty attached to violated law? If so, is it 
intended to teach or correct the person violating it ? 
And is this the sole object of such penalty? How 



10 THE ETERNITY OF EVIL. 

mucli is the person taught, corrected or benefitted, 
who is killed by lightning ? If none, what is the 
meaning of it, when no other human being on earth 
is or ever becomes cognizant of it ? And this is a 
quite probable case. 

These questions elicit thought. They are ac- 
couchers of ideas. Let us follow them into IN'ature, 
for it is there the man of thought wanders, and if 
often lost as in an endless forest in which he was 
born and is to live, it is therein he must return again 
to his domicil, or find a new home. 

§. 3. Quite as much, in regard to definition, 
might be said of morality, wisdom, perfection, and 
the like, but as these terms are intimately connected 
with Evil and human conduct, let us see what part 
Evil performs in the conception of these terms ; let 
us inquire into the relationship and age of Evil, that 
we may get clearer conceptions of their meaning. 

Did the whole universe act in perfect harmony, 
then there would be no Evil, nor Morality. 

For, if there were no Evil, there would be no bad 
act, and a good act would never have had a name, 
for goodness and badness are correlative terms, as 
day and night, father and son, etc. Goodness would 
be, if at all, a necessity of fate, and man would be 
but a mere machine, incapable of pain or pleasure, 
driven by a blind and unfeeling force. But this is 
not true of man. lie is a conscious force on earth ; 
he is (piickened with sensation ; he feels pleasure 



MORALITY BORN OF EVIL. \\ 

and pain; his actions are often partially free; he 
often designs his actions, knowing that he acts; and 
he becomes cognizant of the good and bad effects 
which follow his actions. It is the bad effect which 
awakens him to the consciousness of its opposite in 
jtsTature, and thus morality is born of Evil. 

If this be not so, then will some one tell us what 
morality is, and how it originated ? " It is," says 
one, "the observance of the perfect law of God." 
But, we ask, how expressed and how given ? How- 
ever this may be answered, there is no truth evolved; 
we must deal with its essence and treat of first prin- 
ciples. This assumes a law designed for man to 
obey. But, if it be possible for him to obey a law, 
it is also possible for him to disobey it; and the pos- 
sibility of Evil is involved in the command — Obey ! 
But the command to obey would and could never 
have been given without a knowledge or a belief 
that evil effects would follow its violation. Whence 
came this knowledge of evil which would result by 
disobedience ? It is quite evident that a knowledge 
of Evil must precede any law designed for the good 
of man. In fact, no rule of right action could ever 
originate without a tacit or expressed knowledge of 
Evil to precede it. This is true, whatever may be 
the source of the law — N'ature, God, legislature or 
parent — or whether the law be perfect or not, if the 
law be given with a design and is not a mere evolu- 
tion of blind force. But if Evil precedes the perfect 
law, and the law is to warn against Evil, then Evil 



12 THE ETERNITY OF EVIL. 

is the prime cause of tlie perfect law. Tliat is, 
imperfection must precede the perfect law, and he 
the cause of it, which shows there can be no perfect 
moral law of God. This conclusion is either true 
or false.. But if Evil does not precede the perfect 
law, there would be no object in ordaining the law; 
for a law without an object is no law at all. If Evil, 
on the other hand, be considered as an evolution of 
blind force, it must be treated of under the phenom- 
ena of Nature, governed by established laws. 

§. 4. It may be objected to this reasoning that, 
pushed to its furthest limit, from world to world, 
in its application, supposing other worlds to be 
inhabited, and from time to time back into a preced- 
ing eternity, it makes Evil precede any law of the 
Infinite God. But this objection carries the seeds 
of death within it. It is another phase of the argu- 
ment in reasoning backwards from consequent to 
antecedent to find a first cause which is called God. 
But if God be the first cause, there was a time 
when there was no God, for the first had to begin ; 
and it is useless to say there was a God before he 
acted, or before he was wise enough to act. All we 
can say of God is to posit the Absolute, and confer 
such attributes as a finite conception may think best. 
It would perhaps be best to say God is the Infinite 
Force. There are reasons for considering this Infin- 
ite Force a conscious force, which will be treated 
of hereafter. 



A DISTINCTION. 13 

But when we keep within the realm of the know- 
able, we may define and discriminate. Herein we 
find a distinction between a natural law and a moral 
law; for while a moral law is a natural law, all 
natural laws are not moral laws. ]N"atural law is 
the genus of which moral laws are species. Oxygen 
and nitrogen combine in definite proportions to form 
air and other substances. This is a natural law, but 
it is not a moral law. But all human laws are in a 
wide sense moral laws, even that one which says 
man shall ])e the chattel of another. This, however, 
may not be the best moral law. The moral law has 
to do with Ji)nte intelligences^ not with unconscious 
matter or infinite intelligence. All that can be 
afiirmed in the objection is, that Evil may co-exist in 
time with the Infinite Force, which always must 
precede finite intelligences, or the finite expression 
of Infinite Force. 

But it is again argued, that God may fore-ordain 
something which has never before existed, and thus 
a perfect law may be given long before Evil exists 
as a fact. This arises by confounding action and 
fact: Action is progressive ; Fact is eternal. There 
is a diiFerence between existence and taking place. 
The knowledge of a fact can never be without the 
fact exists. It may have transpired, or is yet to come. 
Li either case it exists and is known, as is the past 
or future — as an eclipse of the moon. If you are to 
die to-morrow, and the knowledge of it were as per- 
fect as infinite wisdom could make it, the fact of 



14 THE ETERNITY OF EVIL. 

your death would be as real to you to-day as to those 
who should witness it to-morrow. Were this not 
true, there would be no science, and in fact nothing 
known beyond our immediate and present action. 
There would be no such word as to-morrow. It is 
the sole object of science to fore-tell events, and, 
were there no facts existing before they transpire, 
science would be but a phantom of thought. 

"We thus come at the Eternity of Evil another 
way. If infinite wisdom is, then it is all now to 
Omniscience, and the knowledge of Evil is an infi- 
nite fact. For it matters not when a particular evil 
begins — last night, last year, last age, or last eternity, 
or at any time in the future — it exists as a fact in 
the universe, forever known to Infinite Force, and 
must be co-eternal with infinite knowledge. It may 
be set down then, as a conclusion of sound reasoning, 
that moral law has Evil to precede it, and is a neces- 
sity thereof, or has been evolved from it. Whence 
w^e may affirm, were there no Evil in the universe 
we would know nothing of morality ; for there would 
be none. 

An argument which leads to the same conclusion 
may be drawn from man's own nature. It will not 
be denied that man is endowed with a faculty called 
benevolence. It is the function of this faculty to 
dispose us to alleviate sufi'ering; to prompt us to 
gentleness and kindness towards each other and 
inferior animals ; to make us charitable and solicit- 
ous for the welfare of all; in short, it is the mental 



EVIL PRECEDES MAN. 15 

finger-board pointing toward Evil in the world. 
Whenever, therefore, you prove that man has benev- 
olence, you prove also that Evil preceded the creation 
of such a faculty in man, the sole function of which 
is to warn us against it. This, however, only proves 
that Evil was in existence before the existence of 
benevolent man, and that the cause of evil is inde- 
pendent of man. But, should we confer benevolence 
as an attribute of God, then we must afiirm that 
Evil is co-eternal with such an attribute. But, argu- 
ing solely from man's nature, we find him endowed 
with many faculties which could never possibly have 
originated without Evil to precede them. Let us 
apply the same rule to other faculties which we have 
just applied to benevolence. 

It is the function of a certain faculty to desire 
property. This desire is independent of the manner 
of acquiring it, and of the uses to which it shall be 
put. But, how is this desire created or made known ? 
What is the cause of the function ? Simply the 
bodily want of subsistence and the means of com- 
fort. The body has been deprived of food, or felt 
the pains of heat and cold ; the limbs have been 
torn, and the feet bruised. Hunger has driven man 
to provide for the morrow ; the pains of the flesh to 
cover his body; the bruises of his feet have given 
him shoes ; the heat and cold shelter and fuel. 
Here is one of the noblest faculties of our nature 
developed and stimulated by Evil to precede it. If 
it be objected that this ought to confer upon the 



16 THE ETERNITY OF EVIL. 

* 

lower animals this faculty, it may be answered it 
cannot be affirmed they have it not ; and further, the 
actions of animals would lead us to conclude they 
did possess such a faculty, yet unaided by man's 
superior scientific prevision. The dog, when he 
buries a bone, and the squirrel, when he fills his 
nest with nuts, are cases in point. What seems to 
strengthen the conclusion still more than these, is 
the fact that when animals are provided by man for 
long periods of time they lose this faculty of provi- 
dent thought, and often die of starvation ; and even 
further, lose the instinct of a proper selection of 
food, and so die. If the miser should be brought 
forward as a fatal objection to the foregoing conclu- 
sion, inasmuch as he is not impelled to accumulate 
the means of subsistence solely by a view to conse- 
quences, it may be answered : The abnormal use of 
a faculty cannot viciate or destroy the cause of such 
faculty, and proves nothing. As well say, because 
now and then a man is a glutton, or because fre- 
quently people eat too much, hunger is not, there- 
fore, the cause of our eating. But without the 
desire to eat awakened by hunger, no one would 
search for food; yet hunger is pain, and if prolonged 
soon develops into secondary evils. 

The faculty of caution prompts to common pru- 
dence ; it anticipates harm ; it is the sense of fear. 
Fear is the ruling mental element in man, as well as 
all other animals ; without it, life would be a thou- 
sand-fold more in danger ; and from this comes the 



MORAL i^ENSE. 17 

first law of life — Preserve thyself. Yet, without Evil, 
it is impossible for it to have originated, if man is 
governed by law, and his faculties have evolved 
from primary conditions ; and if they were not thus 
evolved, but were given by a wise Creator; then 
man was thus endowed because of Evil, which ex- 
isted as a fact in Divine knowledge, so that either 
hypothesis brings us to the same conclusion. 

Evil also as a pre-existent cause in the world, 
may be seen in all animal action. It is Unite, and 
at best cannot be perfect. And while all imperfect 
actions are by no means evil actions; yet all evil 
actions are imperfect actions. From this very fact 
arise the questions, "What is good?" "What is 
right?" "What is proper?" "What is just?" 
Yet none of these questions would have been asked 
without Evil to precede them in the world, and to 
accompany them in human action. ISTo notion of 
justice, of propriety, of right, of goodness, could 
ever possibly have existed or come into existence 
without Evil to precede such conception or knowl- 
edge, because each of these terms is correlative with 
Evil. Hence what is called the "Moral Sense" has 
its basis in Evil. 

And herein we come upon a term which itself 
shows there can be no definition of morality. For 
if morality exists it is the result of those deeds 
prompted by some faculty of man. This faculty 
may be called the "Moral Sense;" although we can- 
not use the word sense as meaning a blind mental 



18 THE ETERNITY OF EVIL. 

force, it must ratlier mean a conscious knowledge, 
for without knowledge there is no rational action ; 
and the " Moral Sense" must arise from a plurality 
of faculties. But this faculty, however we may define 
it, never acts the same in any two individuals, it is 
common to all, yet leads all to different conclusions. 
In other words all have the knowledge of right in 
the abstract, yet no two would agree as to what 
right is in the concrete act. As milhons have the 
abstract idea of God, yet no two would agree as to 
what God is in being. All disagree in the concrete 
conception. What one man calls the moral law 
another one would deny, or amend in many ways ; 
a third would deny the conclusions of both, and a 
fourth would select from each and cast much away 
that he considered rubbish. The moral code of 
Moses will not do for Jesus, and the code of Jesus 
will not do for any Christian of this age. The Chris- 
tian code will not do for thousands of the most civ- 
ilized and intelligent of the world. Whereas many 
select from Moses and Buddha, Jesus and Mahomet, 
Paul and Luther, and cast aside from all these much 
they consider rubbish; others discard all men as 
binding authority, taking no man for master, not 
even Jesus of Nazareth, living up to their own high- 
est convictions, as did Jesus himself. To make this 
statement quite clear, let us make some of the world's 
moral teachers, ancient and modern, expound their 
' own ethical doctrines, as though face to face in con- 
vention. 



FACE TO FACE. 19 

Jesus — What is this you say, Moses, about loving 
your neighbors but hating your enemies? do you 
think that right ? 

Moses — Yes, that is according to the perfect 
moral law of Jehovah. It is recorded, (Deut. xxiii:6,) 
never make peace with an enemy ; an eye for an 
eye, and a tooth for a tooth ; this is the law. Remem- 
ber Amalek ; blot him out. Thou shalt not forget 
what he did, (Deut. xxv:19.) 

Jesus — That is by no means the perfect law. I 
speak as one having authority ; I say, love your ene- 
mies ; bless them that curse you ; do good to them 
that hate you ; and pray for them which despitefully 
use you, and persecute you, (Matt. v:44.) 

David — You are certainly mistaken my son ; 
Moses is right. If the Lord pronounces a curse it 
is most assuredly right for his servants to follow his 
example. You are wrong about prayer also ; I have 
no hesitancy in praying the Lord to curse my ene- 
mies, and that right soundly, (Ps. 109th.) This is, I 
think, in accordance with the perfect moral law. 

I^uUier — You are quite right Kjng David, this is 
a law foimd in human nature as well as the Bible ; 
I can preach and pray best when I am quite angry. 

Frotestant Christian — Yes, King David; you, and 
Moses the Divine law-giver, and Luther the great 
reformer, are right. We are so beset with evil in 
this world, that it is only a vale of tears to those who 
cannot get right down and pray to God to curse this 
whole infidel crew, who are flooding the whole world 



20 THE ETERNITY OF EVIL. 

with irreligion and atheism under cover of the 
words morahty and science; trying to overturn 
God's government and establish the kingdom of 
Satan. Pray, too, with faith, the assurance that he 
will blot out the iniquity, — yes blot out^ that is the 
language he used of old, — and blast the memory of 
all who preach infidelity. — Oh ! for thy fervor King 
David, — and damn the fool who says in his heart 
there is no God. Yes, he is a fool who denies Jeho- 
vah, the God of Abraham, and Moses, and David, 
and our good and blessed master Jesus Christ. This 
is according to the perfect moral law of God. 

Jesus — l^oi too hasty; you evince a zeal which 
lacks thought. You are mistaken; I never wor- 
shiped Jehovah, — it was God, the Father of all, who 
adorned the lilly and took charge of the sparrow ; 
not the God who would rejoice to destroy people, — 
besides you must not call me good, there is none 
good but one, that is God. I believe in the Father- 
hood of God and the Brotherhood of man, — not in 
cursing and revenge ; and you have no moral right 
to call me a fool for not believing in the special god 
of my countrymen ; nay, verily, when you say " thou 
fool^^' you are in danger of hell-fire, (Matt. v:22.) 

UniversaUst — Oh ! oh I Jesus, you didn't mean 
that. You are a little provoked at that orthodox 
fellow, I know; but you ought to have control of 
yourself. You are to save us all from that; one 
extreme leads to another. You ought to have more 
charity for weakness and error. It is really not 



DISCUSSION. 21 

Christian to talk about hell-fire when you believe in 
the Brotherhood of man, and the golden rule. 

Moses — This quarrel arises from forsaking the 
Imv. Jehovah is the Lord, and he has a chosen peo- 
ple. The rest of mankind are idolators and will be 
blotted out. He has given us his law ; this is per- 
fect, and applies in all the relations of life. 

Jesus — That law says, when a man has found 
something unclean in his wife (and this something 
means anything) he may give her a bill of divorce- 
ment and send her out of his house^ (Deut. xxiv:l.) 
There is no law to generalize this, and give the wife 
the same right when she has found something un- 
clean in her husband. But, I say, whosoever shall 
put away his wife saving for the cause of fornication 
causeth her to commit adultery, and whosoever shall 
marry her that is divorced committeth adultery, 
(Matt. v:31-32.) 

Christian — Then you would make out this Chris- 
tian age to be most adulterous and perverse. 

Wliiitier — Yes, and the Christian ages ever have 
been ; you resist evil; 

Where Christ hath spoken peace, his name hath been 
The loudest war cry of contending men ; 
Priests, pale with vigils, in his name have blessed 
The unsheathed sword, and laid the spear in rest — 
Priests wet their war banner with the sacred wine 
And crossed its blazing folds with the holy sign! 

Jesus — Yes, and you swear; you call mankind, 
who do not believe your doctrine, fools ; you pray in 
public ; you pray in anger, and for the Father to 
curse your enemies, his children ; you commit adul- 



22 THE ETERNITY OF EVIL. 

tery under sanction of laiv, and by lust in your hearts ; 
you are continually solicitous about the morrow; 
you are laying up treasures on earth, all the very 
contrary of what I teach. And, furthermore, your 
moral law is a professed hypocrisy, inasmuch as you 
do the very reverse of what you profess, — you pro- 
fess to follow, to take me for a master, and often er 
disobey than follow my .instructions. 

Moses — They profess to follow my instructions 
also, but come infinitely short of it. All this arises 
from forsaking the law. You despise my statutes, 
saith the Lord ; you keep not my Sabbaths ; witch- 
craft goes unpunished ; your children are disobedi- 
ent and ask for rights; your wives are rising up and 
demanding votes, when I have classed the wife 
with property in the tenth commandment, placing 
her in the Divine schedule above personal property, 
but below real estate, and she ought to know her 
sphere ; you have abolished slavery in the blood of 
your fellow ; verily, thus saith the Lord, I will rejoice 
to destroy you, (Deut. xxviii:63.) 

Spiritualist — I suppose by witchcraft you mean 
Spiritualism ; but thank God we live in an age of 
light and knowledge ; in America, not Jewry; and 
your command 'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to 
live,' falls on dull ears in these times. Moses, this 
section of your god's moral code is obsolete. It 
belongs with your law to give forty stripes for civil 
offenses, (Deut. xxv:3:) your morals of selling unclean 
meat to aliens, (Deut. xiv:21;) of stoning children to 



FURTHER COMPLEXITY. 23 

death for disobedience, (Deut. xxi:21.) This belongs 
with your barbarous law of taking women captive 
and parceling them out to satisfy the lust of a brutal 
soldiery, (iTum. xxxi:17-18,) and stoning men to 
death for gathering sticks on the Sabbath (Kum. xvi:- 
32-36.) We have a new code of morals suited to this 
age, and a world's higher civilization. 

The foregoing discussion cannot be said to be 
unfairly represented, which shows how useless it is 
for one amidst such a complexity of opinions to 
define morality. Even just now we find in a journal 
especially devoted to the cause of Christianity the 
following sound reasoning: "For what does Chris- 
tianity amount to, if the man who accepts it, and the 
man who spurns it, may be ahke 'good.' Christi- 
anity is a superfluity and impertinence. It has no 
indispensible mission. For by goodness of char- 
acter much more is meant than mere external virtue 
and amiability." Then speaking of a certain ethical 
teacher, who disclaimed the name Christian, pre- 
sumes him to be "a man of virtuous impulse and 
habits, who would scorn to do what the world calls 
wicked and dishonorable;" and says: "but the 
standard of the world and the standard of Christi- 
anity are infinitely wide apart. ' That which is 
highly esteemed among men is abomination in the 
sight of God.' Thousands will be condemned as 
sinful and guilty in the sight of God, who were 
accounted 'good' in the sight of men." * * * 
" Christ is the source of all real goodness." Now by 



24 THE ETERNITY OF EVIL. 

this is meant, a belief in Christ is the source of all 
morality. Yet, there are thousands of people of this 
world who do not-profess Christianity simply because 
they live up to their highest convictions of knowl- 
edge, belief, and duty; — in other words because 
they are honest in matters of belief and profession ; — 
so that the very essence of morality in the Christian 
religion is to believe in a god who will in some in- 
stances damn an honest man because he is honest. 
By Christianity it is here meant, that system of 
religious belief and practice most widely known as 
such, and includes both Catholic and Protestant. 
There must be eliminated from this some of the 
minor sects known as Christians, were we to test 
them by ethical or theological doctrine; such as 
Unitarians and Universalists. These merely call 
themselves Christians and are counted out by the 
vast majority of Protestants. ]^either can we in- 
clude many eminent moralists and teachers of reli- 
gion who have been called Christians. As Moses, 
Confucius, Socrates, Jesus, Parker, Emerson, and 
others. For, while Theodore Parker called himself 
a Christian, and Socrates has been called such by 
eminent Christians ; and Jesus has the honor of 
being worshipped as a Christian god, yet these per- 
sons have in their teachings very little in common 
with the Christian religion, and very much that is 
radically different therefrom. This shows how diffi- 
cult it would even be to define Christianity; how 
much more difficult is it then to define morality. 



VARYING CONDITIONS. 25 

§. 4. The reason of the foregoing complexity is 
because of conditions. These are ever varying in 
time and place, and to sustain that harmony which 
is ever prominent in l^ature, man is so constituted 
that he changes also mth the varying conditions, 
yet, perhaps never establishes a perfect harmony, as 
entire harmony would result in that mental disaster, 
known as satisfaction. It is by bringing greatly 
varying or adverse conditions together, which pro- 
duces such varying actions and opinions, as illus- 
trated in the fable of the wolf and the lamb, and 
in the discussion between eminent moralists. Evil 
and morality are both variable quantities ; they are 
finite in expression and admit of comparison, be- 
cause dependent upon conditions and finite action. 
This can be made mathematically evident from the 
following illustration with regard to ignorance and 
wisdom. Absolute msdom is the entire absence or 
zero of ignorance ; and conversely, absolute igno- 
rance is the entire absence or zero of wisdom. But, 
between the two absolutes, of wisdom and ignorance, 
there are the two finite and variable quantities which 
take the imqualified expressions, wisdom and igno- 
rance. In other words absolute wisdom and absolute 
ignorance are the two poles of a progressive and 
finite knowledge. In the life of man msdom is the 
increasing quantity, while ignorance is the decreas- 
ing one. But man is not omniscient, and the only 
correct conclusion is, that he starts from absolute 
ignorance and progresses towards absolute wisdom. 



26 TEE ETERNITY OF EVIL, 

With the least increment of knowledge lie must be 
wise in a degree, and yet almost absolutely ignorant. 
"With each increment of knowledge be travels on 
towards wisdom. We say of a child, it gets larger, 
stronger and wiser ; but we can affirm of the wisest 
man, he is ignorant; and we measure his quantity 
of wisdom by the infinite measure of his ignorance. 
It is when a man becomes somewhat wise, he may 
gain sufficient force of thought to conceive in some 
small degree how profoundly ignorant he is. Surely, 
when compared with omniscience, the wisest man 
who ever lived, or lives, would be in quantity but 
the infinitesimal part of an atom compared to the 
earth. By ignorance, then, we mean not wise ; but 
this by no means defines ignorance. We say the 
babe is ignorant, the school-boy is ignorant, the 
middle-aged and the old are ignorant, but by this we 
do not mean they have no knowledge whatever, we 
simply mean they are wise or ignorant as compared 
with some standard of measurement, established by 
common consent, and which varies in times and 
places. That which falls short is ignorance, that 
which is equal to, or exceeds is wisdom. But in 
the progress of the race one age establishes the 
standard of measurement a little greater than the 
age immediately preceding. This change is by an 
insensible movement as though the standard were an 
elastic rod susceptible of being made longer but never 
shorter ; and it is only by comparing one age with 
another, or many others, that any change can be 



VAEYIXG STANDARDS. 27 

observed. But this may be still further differentiated 
by adraittiug the standard of each individual to fig- 
ure in the question ; and we have a quantity vary- 
ing from the Hottentot to the Humboldts of the world. 
Now, when one age sa3^s, this man is a fool, that man 
is ignorant, and the other man is wise, it uses these 
terms as compared with the standard of wisdom of 
that age ; and when the individual affirms that this, 
that, or the other man is a fool, ignorant or wise, he 
compares the man usually with himself. 

It is just the same with morality. It is a variable 
quantity, and passes onward from imperfection, as 
the starting point, towards absolute perfection. The 
standard of individuals and the ages are all different, 
and must necessarily be so, else there would be no 
varying conditions. And thus it has come to pass ; 
the ages of Moses and Socrates, and Jesus and 
Luther are widely different and can be distinguished. 
What was considered morality in one of these, would 
not in the others be a true conception ; as what was 
meant by wisdom in one of these ages would not be 
meant in either of the others. So also of great relig- 
ious teachers; the standards of Moses, and Socrates, 
and Jesus, and Luther, and Parker are widely differ- 
ent. Yet, it is the standard which the age sets up; 
which is accepted and rules public action. So in 
morals ; we have existing on earth the notions of the 
Caribs as well as the Beechers of the land. Morality 
is a word of comparison or degree. 



28 THE ETERNITY OF EVIL. 

In tlie progress of man the human race does 
not equally advance. All do not go on with meas- 
ured equal pace. Some races far outstrip others, some 
individuals far outstrip the race, tribe, or family, to 
which they belong ; so that we have to-day from the 
highest to the lowest every phase of intellectual and 
moral development. This age is not superimposed 
upon the past, burying it entirely away from the sun- 
light of to-day ; but, like the geologic strata, all the 
formations of past ages crop out on the surface of this 
age somewhere, showing us the changes which time 
has brought about. We study the past in its fossil 
remains, both in earth and man. And as there are 
living representatives of animals which predominated 
in past ages, so there are living representatives of 
moral doctrines which predominated in past ages, 
but which are now looked upon as barbarous and 
out of place. 

This law of varying conditions is organic, and 
perhaps inheres in the ultimate atom. Some gener- 
alizations upon this fact may not be out of place. 

The first great law we find in the world is. Nature, 
distribuiively, never repeats herself. No two men, no 
two women, no two children, can be found exactly 
alike, either in physical features or mental organi- 
zation ; no two animals of the same species alike, no 
two animalcirlse nor insects which swarm by the hun- 
dreds of millions can be found exactly alike. They 
may appear alike to the natural eye but not to the 
eye of science. Ko two phmts alike. Nature seems 



VARIATION ORGANIC. 29 

to 1)6 so prodigal of varieties, that no two flowers nor 
l)lade8 of grass, nor seeds are alike ; and we presume 
no two ultimate atoms of matter alike. The differ- 
ent states of carbon, as the diamond, charcoal and 
graphite, would lead to this conclusion, as also to 
explain isomerism in chemistry supposing the atomic 
theory to be true. E'ot only in the individual is 
this law of variety to be seen out there are great 
class and family distinctions. Thus the race of man- 
kind has its great typical distinctions, as the Caucas- 
sian or white race ; the Indian or brown race ; and 
the IS'egro or black race. These typical distinctions 
are founded in lN"ature, and a general law governs 
them. They bear not only marks of physical varia- 
tion but great mental differences as types of man- 
kind. I^ot only this, but each type has also marked 
characteristics as a nation of men. Thus, in the great 
historic race, the Caucassian, we find marked mental 
characteristics — the Eomans, the conquerers; the 
Grecians, the artistic ; the Hebrews, the devout. The 
Romans were the most combative, ambitious, acquisi- 
tive people on earth ; they were a nation of Napo- 
leons without his knowledge. The Grecian mind 
was metaphysical, elegant, highly literary. In this 
soil sculpture, architecture, poetry and philosophy 
all flourished. The Hebrew mind reveled in its 
barter and fervent worship. To trade and to pray, 
became a Jew. The Hebrew government even was 
a theocracy. Jehovah, in a miraculous manner, 
according to their own history, chose the leaders. 



30 THE ETERNITY OF EVIL. 

He annointed tliem with holy oil, breathed into them 
the '' spirit of God," fought their battles, preserved 
them as a chosen people from the rapacity of sur- 
rounding nations, or sold them into slavery for their 
lust after other gods. Thus, in the life of nations, 
in their great mental characteristics, a general law 
is proclaimed in individual variation. 

We are now able to see the immediate,cause of 
so many conflicting opinions, and why people are 
engaged in an endless discussion of rights, privileges 
and duties. The true cause of an opinion lies further 
remote, and depends on the degree of knowledge. 



CHAPTER II. 

PERFECTION IN MAN FOREVER IMPOSSIBLE. 

§.1. If the foregoing conclusions are true, it 
follows that perfection in man is forever impossible. 
For, suppose, starting from absolute ignorance, as 
all are compelled to at birth, having inherited no 
knowledge, but at most only a certain tendency or 
capacity to know, and perhaps certain instincts 
which are irrational, and can never rise higher than 
a manifestation of transmitted habit, we progress 
in a given ratio towards absolute wisdom ; it would 
be impossible to reach the infinite quantity for two 
reasons. In the first place, we would have to pro- 
gress by increments of finite knowledge, and finites 
added to or n"»ultiplied into finites never produce 
an infinite. And, in the second place, it would re- 
quire infinite capacity to acquire and retain abso- 
lute or infinite wisdom. Neither can we in a finite 
or restricted sense become perfect. Some further 
remarks on this conclusion of man's unlimited 
imperfection will not be out of place ; for the assump- 



32 PERFECTION IN MAN IMPOSSIBLE. 

tiou of attainable perfection has always led to fail- 
ure in ethical teachings. Upon this false hypothesis 
it is argued, and that truly, that man should have a 
perfect code to govern him, and that to the com- 
mand given in accordance v^ith the perfect law there 
is neither variableness nor shadow of turning, — that 
the law, which was meant to govern him, has no 
exceptions. From the false assumption of attainable 
perfection has grown up what is called the perfect 
law, which has never had that perfect expression, 
which would make it applicable to man. If the 
command be given, simply, as Jesus gave it, " Be ye 
therefore perfect," — this leaves the question a nullity 
if literally construed, as it is absolutely impossible 
to be perfect; but, if it be interpreted to mean "aim 
at perfection," then it is left open for each fallible 
person to aim as he sees fit ; discharging the forces 
of action, regardless of consequences to others ; aim- 
ing at the empty air; the mark in the midst of a 
multitude; or even shooting around the corner of 
some great sin ; in either case he may think he is 
aiming at perfection. 

§. 2. The mistake of concluding that a perfect 
law is applicable to man arises from the tacit or 
expressed assumption that man is perfectly free and 
can be just as good or just as bad as he pleases. 
Prospectively it assumes, that ideal perfection is an 
attainable real from such perfectly free action ; and 
retrospectively it is a theological dogma that our 



CONDITIONS GOVERN THE WILL. 33 

iirst parents enjoyed a " perfect estate." This gave 
rise to the belief in a " Golden Age," common to all 
Eastern mythologies. In the Christian theology it 
is held that the Devil was thus free, and instead of 
freely being good, freely made himself bad ; that 
Eve and Adam, instead of freely being good, freely 
made themselves bad, and so of all their posterity. 
In answer to this, it may be affirmed, mankind 
are free to the extent of their capacities, abilities, or 
circumstances; in other words, that conditions gov- 
ern the direction of their free activities. Hence, 
some persons are less free than others. The slave, 
who toils under his master's lash, is not so free to 
travel, acquire knowledge, amass wealth, in short to 
call out all his mental activities, as is the master. 
The man who is locked up in a jail is not so free to 
steal or murder, as he would be at large among 
people. Hence, what is often popularly called good- 
ness may be the result of restraint, and badness the 
result of more freedom. Again, the person who has 
inherited a mania to steal and murder is not so free 
to live without committing these crimes, as one who 
has no such mania. The idiot has not the freedom 
to become wise; he is mentally chained to igno- 
rance. The " virtues" and " vices" of people are 
often born wdth them, and the will., instead of gov- 
erning the conduct of people, is governed itself by 
the mental condition; so that, given such a birth 
and education, a certain character, which guides the 
ivill, is the product. State the kind of a man you 



34 PERFECTION IN MAN IMPOSSIBLE. 

want, and science, under the conditions, will produce 
him. This is why the Catholic is a Catholic, the 
Protestant is a Protestant, the Mahometan a Ma- 
hometan, the Infidel an Infidel. Under ordinary or 
normal conditions a mother is not free to stand and 
look calmly on, without wondering whether it were 
hurt or not, should her child fall from her chamber 
window. She is only free to run and gather up her 
child. IsTeither is she free to hate or love it. Love 
is a normal necessity of mankind. ITor is there 
such a thing as love, hatred, or belief, freely pro- 
duced by the will. I^one of these are free. IS'o one, 
by loilling, can love or hate an other, nor believe or 
disbelieve anything. These are governed by the 
necessities of his condition. The condition he may 
in a measure, though quite limited, change or 
control. 

There is a good illustration of human freedom 
in the flying of the kite. You bind it to the air by 
means of a string. You restrain it with a string 
and it soars aloft. The conditions of the kite are then 
fulfilled. But remove the restraint by breaking the 
string and it careens madly to earth. So man is free 
to act virtuously, only because of his restraint. 
His passions must be restrained by a knowledge of 
the evils coming from their abuse. He ought to 
have the freedom to use well the materials which 
are given him in greater or lesser abundance. Yet, 
knowledge has the right to control ignorance at all 
times. This gives the parent a right to control 



CONDITIONS GOVERN CHARACTER. 35 

the child, the master the pupil, the overseer the 
workman, within their relative spheres. 

But, if man has inherited weak or rotten mate- 
rials, he can only build out of them a weak or rotten 
life. If he has inherited strong and sound materials, 
he may build, if he applies wisdom thereto, a strong 
and sound life. Thus, if we have poor materials to 
work upon, we are mostly what we are made, never 
what we would wish to make ourselves, even within 
the world's present attainment ; and, if we have good 
materials given us, we are in part what we are made, 
and in part what we make ourselves. Man comes 
into life unbidden on his part; seldom bidden on 
the part of his parents. His acts are the budding 
forth of a germ within, nourished by outward cir- 
cumstances, and the resultant of these two forces, 
called the conditions of his being, gives him char- 
acter. If he is born a INTegro, Indian, White man, 
or idiot, he lives and dies such. The physica and 
mental conditions of all these are engrafted into 
their very being, and it is these which distinguish 
us as JSTegro, Indian, White man, sensible or idiotic. 

§. 3. To live in accordance with the perfect 
law, or even to fulfill his ideal, man must have the 
power to make himself whatever he desires. But 
his desires may far exceed his natural capacity, and 
capacity is a condition bounded on all sides by his 
desires. Education may increase the capacity, this 
elevates the standard of intellectuality, but a partic- 



36 PERFECTION IN MAN IMPOSSIBLE. 

ular intellectuality soon reaches its limit. In the 
mental, as well as in the physical forces of the animal, 
there is a certain limit, beyond which it seems im- 
possible to pass, and this is called the natural capa- 
city of the animal. The physical capacity of man 
increases by education to a certain extent, and then 
stops. Milo might run the whole length of the 
Stadium with a four year old bull on his shoulders, 
having carried him daily from a calf up to that age ; 
but this does not prove that Tom Thumb could ever 
possibly have done the same; nor, that Milo, himself, 
could ever possibly have carried a full grown ele- 
phant on his shoulders. So also in mental culture in 
a particular direction, and by a life of study upon 
any one thing, a person may become an adept, far 
transcending in this his otherwise occupied neigh- 
bor ; but it will be found he does not progress beyond 
a certain degree, far this side of perfection, or even 
his own ideal. He stops at the natural limit of his 
powers, and when he has gained his utmost, he is 
farther this side of his ideal than when he began ; 
for his ideal moves also on in an increasing ratio. 
This is the testimony of all who have accomplished 
great things. It is the testimony of all who can 
grasp in memory, their own life. 

Mentally, as well as physically, men are not 
created equal. Equality lies in the right to use, 
according to their best knowledge, their unequal 
powers of mind and body. As one star differs 
from another star in glory, so one person differs 



STARS DIFFER. 37 

from another in mental or physical capacity. Yet 
both, stars and persons, have the equal right to dis- 
pense their own quality and quantity of light, and 
if obscured by the dazzling brightness of others, 
they must submit. 

One person may have the taste and ability of 
the writer, another of the orator, another of the 
blacksmith, or farmer. One may be a linguist, 
mathematician, or musician, and some, with great 
capacities, may succeed in much, while others suc- 
ceed in nothing. Could we possibly become what- 
ever we wished, simply from the ^^ freedom " of our 
will, and our capacities to grow, we might all of 
us become Shakspeares, and Miltons, and Bacons, 
and Newtons. But there was one Hamlet, and one 
lago to be created, and but one Shakspeare to create 
them. There was but one "Paradise Lost" to be 
written, and but one Milton to write it. Byron could 
apostrophize the Ocean; Longfellow could write 
" Hiawatha ;" Burns hold conversation with " Auld 
Mcky Ben;" but it takes a Milton to speak like 
Moloch, and a Shakspeare to cut the pound of flesh 
for Shylock. There was but one Oliver Cromwell 
for the greatest of English events; but one George 
the Third for her smallest event. There was but 
one Diogenes with the cynic pride of meanness, to 
tread on the academic pride of Plato. There was 
but the one Philip to call forth the invectives and 
eloquence of the one Demosthenes, and but one 
Aristotle to educate the one Alexander. If Sir 



38 PERFECTION IN MAN IMPOSSIBLE. 

William Hamilton had been born an Osage Indian, 
Scotland would boast no philosopher the greatest in 
the world. If Archbishop Whately had been born 
a Hottentot, Ireland would have produced no one 
to give us a logical effigy of Aristotle. That is, 
to suppose other conditions, is to suppose entirely 
different persons ; and the freedom of the will and 
the ideal perfection are swallowed up in the con- 
ditions. In other words, there is no way to arrive 
at perfection but by progression, by bettering the 
a,ttained present in the attainable future. But we 
would have to progress infinitely to reach the 
ultimate. Like the curve of the hyperbola, which 
continually approaches its asymptotes and does not 
touch them till space ends; so man, in his progres- 
sive nature, may continually approach that divine 
attribute which reaches out from the Absolute, but 
at which he will never arrive. Verily, were we 
perfect we would be gods. 

True, man may progress till he knows all about 
this earth, perhaps to its very centre ; till he knows 
every element of the sun, and can tell its coming 
effects on the earth for thousands of years ; fore-tell 
every adverse current of air, for weeks, and get such 
control of the forces, which act with such awful 
energy in earth and air, as to make the T\dnds and 
waters obey him. Yet, this would come as far short 
of physical perfection, as the earth is less than the 
whole bulk of infinite orbs. Moral, physical and 
intellectual perfection is forever impossible. 



IDEALS DIFFER. 39 

§.4. In the Ideal world, man by no means 
makes to himself a perfect ideal. The ideals of 
men differ, as do their beliefs and actions. The 
ideal of a Michael Angelo, would not be that of a 
Phidias, for the body of a god. They would differ 
as widely in conferring mental attributes. The ideal 
of an Emerson and a Christian, would differ widely 
for both God and man. There is a vast abyss be- 
tween the ideals of a Caffre and a Shelley. The 
finest ideals of men, in their loftiest flights of thought, 
fall far short of true conceptions, either of God 
or the Ideal Man. A perfect man, has never yet 
been conceived in thought. There is imperfection 
beyond all possible conceptions. The Jesuses of 
the world all fail. We grow up to, and pass on 
beyond them. There may be finite intelligences 
in the universe, far greater, in reality, than earth's 
loftiest ideal. Why not ? It is the most dwarfed 
egotism to affirm, all finite intelligence is produced 
upon this mote of a world. And, if other worlds 
produce their intelligences, those intelligences may 
be as much superior to us physically, morally, and 
intellectually, as it is possible for conditions to be 
as much superior to ours, as we can imagine ; and 
those intelligences may have their ideals after which 
they are struggling, as much superior to our ideals, 
as it is possible for them to imagine. 

The prime cause of the worship of Jesus to-day, 
is this struggle and longing after the ideal in man- 
hood. The world has painted its Golden Age in 



40 PERFECTION IN MAN IMPOSSIBLE. 

the past, and looks forward to the Millennium. The 
Jews looked forward to a temporal reign of the 
Messiah, who would restore the Lost Tribes, and 
deliver the people from the hand of the oppressors. 
He is yet to come. The Christians claim that the 
Messiah came in the person of Jesus, but did not 
stay. The disciples believed he was to return, as 
he himself told them, within that generation. He 
did not come. The early Christians said he would 
come in the next generation, and the next, and the 
next. IsTow, the time is postponed to the ideal ful- 
fillment of the " Grood time coming." The perfect 
man and the perfect time are still in the future. 
Science and sound reasoning teach us they will be 
forever there, the ever sought, never obtained. The 
Ideal is the reflection of the great fact of the world's 
history within the consciousness, that the human race 
is passmg on to the better. This gives to each one the 
Ideal Manhood and Womanhood. That is, the better 
man and woman, but in no wise the perfect. And 
it is a necessity of the endless difference of mental 
capacity in the human race, that each being must 
have a particular ideal. The Ideal Manhood varies 
as do people's conceptions of a personal god. In 
fact the two methods of conception are similar. 
Man projects his own image on the infinite back 
ground, and calls it God, or Ideal Manhood. The 
personal god, and Ideal Manhood are identical. 
The god Jesus is but an ideal man ; he even falls 
below the ideal man of some. This is all that gives 



THE GODS CHANGE. 41 

intensity to worship. That the personal god and 
the Ideal Manhood, are but reflections of self, is 
proven from the fact, that sex has to enter into the 
conception. The Catholic is not alone contented 
with Jesus, he must have his Mary, — the Shaker his 
Annie Lee, — the Spiritualist his Father and Mother 
god. The Protestant church fails in the feminine 
conception, and what deductively must necessarily 
follow, proves true. This wing of the Christian 
church is composed largely of women ; Jesus is the 
ideal man whom they worship. There is no ideal 
woman for man, and he seeks his god elsewhere. 
Too much stress is often placed upon this worship 
of the Ideal, whether as a god or an exalted man. 
It is not this worship which makes the world pro- 
gress. It is the progressive fact of human nature, 
which creates within us the Ideal. Yet, among the 
vast millions of earth, this order is reversed, and an 
effect substituted for the cause. Mankind does not 
progress because of laws and religions. Civiliza- 
tion does not arise from these ; but progress which 
is only another name for change, is the eternal law 
of Mature which produces them all. It is Dissatis- 
faction, rooted in the soil of Evil, which is the cause 
of all progress. Man is dissatisfied with his lot. 
He labors to better it. Physical conditions thus 
grow better. These re-act upon him mentally, and 
tone down, and soften, and refine the feelings. The 
god he had conceived of in a ruder state, he becomes 
dissatisfied with, and he mentally changes his god, 



42 PERFECTION IN MAN IMPOSSIBLE. 

conferring other and more exalted attributes. This 
changes his form of worship. He breaks his idols 
of wood and stone, casts aside his cross, and ascends 
to the soul's highest Ideal; and having forgotten 
what he once was, wonders how those he has left 
behind, can still be 

"Pagans suckled in a creed outworn." 

§. 5. We often hear it asserted that man will 
some day reach a perfect estate. This conclusion is 
doubtless drawn from the constantly increasing rate 
of progress. It is often asserted, man progresses 
in a geometrical ratio ; and in a geometric series the 
limit is soon reached, which, if not absolute per- 
fection, is so near it, that it would be folly to try 
to conceive of the difference ; and, that in practical 
results they would be so near perfection they might 
be considered as such. 

But we deny the conclusion founded upon any 
geometrical progression. For the sake of any argu- 
ment which may be founded thereon, we assent to 
the geometrical progress of man ; and ajfirm : man 
may progress in a geometrical ratio, but only ad- 
vance in an arithmetical one ; and relatively he does 
progress towards perfection, but absolutely he does 
not progress at all. For the purpose of illustration, 
we have constructed the following diagram : Let 
K. K. etc., represent the indefinite plane of man's 
activities ; — I, the point of ignorance from which he 
starts, and K. K. K. K. etc., the indefinite points 



K 





7 


» 






6° 


\ 






5° 


\\\ 




/^ 


4° 


& 


k 


( 


u% 


w^ 


Ixwii 



K 



^' 



^^ 



A VITAL DIFFERENCE. 43 

of knowledge towards which he progresses. To 
cover the whole plane of his activities, he must pass 
spirally outwards from the pole of his ignorance 
towards knowledge. Let now these spiral revolu- 
tions about the point of his ignorance on the plane 
of his activities, be represented as circular, and the 
distance between each be represented by a constant 
number, say unity. Then the diameters would 
increase in an arithmetical ratio. But the ratio of 
diameter to circumference is 3-1415926=p. Now 
suppose that man completes each revolution in the 
same length of time, and we have one half of 1, 2, 
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, for the rate of his advancement, but 
p, 2p, 3p, 4p, 5p, 6p, 7p, for the rate of his pro- 
gress. That is, he may progress in a geometrical 
ratio but only advance in an arithmetical one. 

But again : Let any point on I C represent 
the Ideal Conception ; and suppose that man's Ideal 
Conception, increases in the same ratio of his ad- 
vancement. Then at 1 he has the mental power of 
1°, and at 2 of 2°, and so forth. But the distance 
between the points of his attainment and the Ideal 
Conception is always increasing. I^ow, really this is 
true of man's conception in regard to his knowledge; 
for at the point I, he is so profoundly ignorant that 
he really thinks he knows everything; at 1, there 
are a few things he does not know ; at 2, quite a 
number; at 3, very many; at 4, the knowledge of 
his ignorance becomes quite annoying to him ; and 
thus he goes on, till at 7, he has sufficient knowledge 



44 PERFECTION IN MAN IMPOSSIBLE. 

to compreliend how profoundly ignorant lie is ; and 
tlius the perfect at last, only gets farther away from 
him. But what he loses in the direction of C, he 
gains toward K ; so that relatively he advances, hut 
absolutely he does not. 

I^ow, this is perhaps as good an illustration of 
progress, and the real facts in the case, as the his- 
tory of man and his own feelings would warrant. 
We may, therefore, safely conclude : that man may 
progress in a geometrical ratio, hut only advance in 
an arithmetical one; and that relatively he does 
advance towards perfection on the plane of his own 
activities, but absolutely he does not; for there are 
infinite other planes he can never touch, both above 
and below him. 

§. 6. By force of the same fact of impossible 
perfection in man, it follows that a perfect law can 
not be given, and were it given could no be obeyed. 
A perfect law has never yet been expressed. For, 
if we try to give expression to the law of human 
freedom; that is, the liberty of each, limited only 
by the like liberty of all; and say with Spencer: 
" Every man has freedom to do all that he wills, 
provided he infringes not the equal freedom of any 
other man," then, it is no wrong for him to injure 
himself nor any animal belonging to himself; 
whereas, it is the chiefest of all chief wrongs to injure 
one's self. It is a sin against the first law of life. 
This law cannot be applied to children. It neutral- 



THE GOLDEN RULE FAILS, 45 

izes parental rule. In fact, there could be no govern- 
ment of family or state; for it supposes a perfect 
man who is to will and to do perfectly. But, on the 
other hand, if we should restrict this perfect liberty, 
by saying : do what you will so long as you- injure 
not yourself, nor any other person or animal; we 
would bind him down to inaction and death. 

The Golden Rule comes as near as it is perhaps 
possible to express the Ideal Law ; yet it comes far 
short of perfection, and can never be obeyed. It 
tells you to do nothing less, nor more, than you 
would wish or desire others to do towards you. 
This supposes you to be perfect to insure good 
results ; and, furthermore, supposes an absolute 
equality in individuals, not in rights alone, but in 
conditions. The Golden Rule can not always be 
obeyed with good results, from the fact it is a sympa- 
thetic ideal, devoid of a penalty. At most, it only 
sets up yourself, a very imperfect creature, as the 
standard of action. Your desires shall be the test ; 
all actions shall square with your desires. Perhaps 
no one desires to be punished. Even when one has 
transgressed, the desire is to shun the effect, to flee 
the punishment. It matters not how villainous or 
exemplary the transgressor, the desire always is, to 
shun the penalty. The Golden Rule applied would 
thus pardon every transgression, rather than inflict 
a punishment. The Golden Rule expresses pardon; 
it is not a law mth a penalty. It cries out: '^For- 
give ! " From it does not come that merciless cry : 



46 PERFECTION IN MAN IMPOSSIBLE. 

"Oh, transgressor, now suffer!" It grows out of 
sympathy for weakness and ignorance, which are 
ever leading people into error and sin. It binds up 
the wounds of satisfied law, and would stay the arm 
of Justice, which alone can bring health to a people. 
It preaches the sermon on the Mount. It is an 
angel of love in the midst of vice. It blesses 
always and curses not. It would destroy a world 
with kindness, never save it by a single act of jus- 
tice. It pets and sympathises with the villain whom 
Justice holds with a vice-like grip. 

The Golden Rule does not come to us as a law. 
It may be obeyed or not, in thousands of instances 
without bad results to us, and with good results to 
others. Unflinchingly carried out, no wayward 
child of the family or state would ever be punished. 
It would not only mar the exalted beauty of sym- 
pathy, but entirely destroy it, to put the Golden 
Rule in the form of a law; thus: Do unto others 
as ye would that they should do to you, or pay a 

fine of dollars and costs, or serve years in 

a state penitentiary, or hang by the neck on 

Friday till dead. Yet, this is the blank form in 
which all our statutory enactments aim to be writ- 
ten. Beautiful, as the Golden Rule is as an ethical 
flower in thti gardens of civilization, it would be 
but a noxious weed yielding the seeds of death, if 
applied to an Indian savage, who thinks it the 
chiefest of all human glory, to adorn his buckskin 
shirt with the hair of women and children, he has 



A SYMPATHETIC WEAL. 47 

killed for their scalps. The Golden Rule is an ideal 
thought, which cannot he conceived of by such a 
savage, whose head is only a battery of cruelty and 
death. Among such, the Golden Rule is simply oil 
added to the fierce flame. Among men, it never has 
worked, and must forever fail. Its language is: "K 
a man compel thee to go with him one mile, go 
v^th him twain ; " — it matters not, whether he is 
going to heaven or hell. "If he take thy coat, 
give him thy cloak also;" — if he steal thy horse, 
hunt him up and give him thy cow. "If he smite 
thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other 
also;" — if he outrage and scalp thy wife, offer him 
the scalp of thy child also. In short, be a lamb, 
and enforce a lamb's ethics in a den of wolves. 

The great mistake is, those who can appreciate 
the Golden Rule the most, and see its transcendent 
beauties, forget that the low and the vile have no 
appreciation of it; and there are races of men, we 
presume, so low in the scale of developement, that 
the Golden Rule has never yet been conceived of by 
them; for it is the highest development of sym- 
pathy, the fairest flower of the Ages. That it has 
not worked, we only have to open any page of the 
World's history to find true. It does not prevent 
slavery; for the Wolf's logic to the Lamb, is ever 
in the mouth of the slaveholder, as thus: "K God 
Almighty had made me like a negro, or other bar- 
barian, I should think it a great kindness, nay, a 
righteous act, to enslave me, and treat me as well as 



48 PERFECTION IN MAN IMPOSSIBLE. 

slaves are treated physically; and besides, morally, 
it would be an infinite blessing to me, to bring me 
within the fold of Christ, and save my soul." It is 
thus the Golden Rule is self-destructive, amidst 
Evil. How could a half nation of Christians ever 
defend Southern slavery with the Golden Rule on 
their lips if it prohibited it? Applied to the com- 
mon school system of this country it will not work. 
Does a man see no value in an education, never 
having learned to read and write, and thanks God 
for it, he prohibits his children from going to school, 
and votes and works against common schools. The 
bliss and villainy of ignorance the Golden Rule can 
never disturb. Ignorance has to be torn out of 
man by the roots; the operation always accompanied 
with pain and bleeding. Does a man whip his 
child to death in obedience to a religious obligation, 
his Golden Rule tells him he has done no wrong ; 
it even sustains him in the awful work of death. 
Does he burn heretics at the stake, his Golden Rule 
only says he ought to be treated in the same manner 
if a heritic^ which he assents to. Ignorance, glutted 
with brutal indulgence, always folds the Golden 
Rule about itself and goes to sleep. The Carib 
eats his captive, and the American Indian decorates 
himself with the scalps of babes and mothers; 
Lovejoy goes down under the heel of a mob, and a 
Parker is lampooned in the pra}' ers of Boston ; and 
yet, the Golden Rule is as dumb as eternal silence. 
Not that it is in itself wrong, but because the mam- 



A SUBTLETY UNMASKED. 49 

spring of all our actions does not lie in moral codes 
or any rule of conduct. We act independent of all 
these. Action is not the result of moral law ; but 
this is the result of our development — our imperfect 
state — our condition. Our actions are the eifects of 
causes lying back of, and beyond, all moral codes ; 
and were we possessed of the knowledge of the 
constant forces which ever evolve actions we could 
predict them with that certainty with which an 
astronomer predicts an eclipse. 

From what has already been said on the conflict 
of opinion, in regard to moral law, this is made 
apparent. But let us once more illustrate the false 
method of definition in regard to morals. It is an 
oft repeated maxim: "^ person has no right to act 
icrong.^' It is safe to say a thousand people would 
call this a truism, to one who would question its 
truth. Yet, nothing could be farther from a just 
law of action than this maxim. It at once supposes 
the actor to be possessed of full knowledge of what 
and how he is to do ; and the exact result of all his 
actions. Let us rob it of its subtlety and say : "A 
person has no right to act unless he has a perfect 
knowledge of what is right." This at once says 
a person shall never make an experiment because 
of his ignorance. Because he does not know how, 
he is never to learn. Yet experience is the school 
in which people gain knowledge ; all art has sprung 
out of it ; all science ; all self-government ; all civili- 
zation. The child politic or the child human has a 



50 PERFECTION IN MAN IMPOSSIBLE. 

right to act though it often stumbles and acts amiss. 
In fact it cannot help acting. If it acts wrong it 
will soon know it, and the right is only thus made 
known; and generalizing its actions, it has the 
science of its life. That maxim, if enforced to-mor- 
row, would result in human inactivity, poverty, 
ignorance, and, in a few years, entire extinction of 
the race ; yet it is the very essence of the Golden 
Bule. Science reveals to us punishment as the 
inexorable law of I^Tature. The Stomach and Back 
both say : "Do or die." IN'ature does not merely say : 
"Work or go hungry or cold." Hunger and cold 
often come at best. But it is " do or die." "Ho!" 
cries the drowning man to his fellow in the water, 
" help, or I perish !" " I gladly would," responds the 
more fortunate, " did I not have to save myself." 
This is the response which the first law of life forces 
from us all. Seldom do we find a person who will 
willingly lay down his life for another, save his own 
child, whose weakness demands his aid. Here, 
sympathy sways the parent into entire obliviousness 
of his own life. It is the demand which weakness 
always makes upon the strong; that inevitable 
tendency in all nature to equilibrium, though the 
strong have to suffer for it. All that can be laid 
down as a rule in regard to human action is : "A 
person has no right to do that which he knoivs to be 
wrong." 



CHAPTER III. 

DIVERSITY IN UNITY. 

§. 1. We have said that diversity is a fact of 
Nature. But ]!!Tature is an infinite Paradox. It 
may be as truthfully asserted that unity is a fact of 
IsTature. This is seen both in the development of 
plants and animals, and in the secondary action of 
physical and mental forces. The unity of ligature 
proclaims its constancy, its precision of action. The 
force which binds worlds together in harmonious 
action, is no freak of God's will, for a special pur- 
pose; but an infinite and universal force for a 
general and infinite purpose ; and science proclaims, 
as they go plunging through space with a seeming 
reckless velocity and momentum, sufficient to burst 
each other into chaotic fragments should they 
collide, they are so governed, that no unforeseen 
accident can happen them ; attracted by each other 
their orbital aberrations are part of their predeter- 
mined movement. The earth in going round the 
sun from year to year keeps such time to the '^ music 



52 DIVERSITY IN UNITY. 

of the spheres," that she swings round no millionth 
part of a second too late, nor no hair's breath of 
space gained : and though her orbit may intersect 
the path of a comet, Infinite Intelligence, has 
promised safety alike to earth and wandering star. 
The constant forces of the Universe are no more 
disturbed by comet or moon's nod, than is the earth's 
mass by the falling of a sunbeam. The earth was 
created and is sustained by a fixed law, and will so 
continue to exist while an Infinite Force sustains 
her. The stars look down upon us and " have us 
to bed," through fixed laws, bringing " tired 
IN'ature's sweet restorer, balmy Sleep," like an 
angel of mercy to aching brain and weary muscle. 
The sun shines by a fixed law. ^o motion of light 
which reaches" this dusty globe but reveals in 
scientific truth, the universal Providence, and the 
stability of the Universe. The grass grows and 
withers, in accordance with an everlasting covenant. 
So every material thing connected with this earth 
declares the unity and harmony of ]!^ature. The 
air we breathe, in entering the lungs, or driv- 
ing the cloud of thunder, or in the sweeping 
cyclone, or gentle zephyrs' breath, fills all its ofiices 
and makes all its varied manifestations through 
fixed and general laws. The simple elements of 
which it is composed mix in accordance with a 
fixed purpose. Two parts by weight of nitrogen 
to one of oxygen is the "breath of Life;" reverse 
this order — two of oxygen to one of nitrogen, and 



UNITY OF TYPE. 53 

it becomes the breath of Death ; and this air we 
breathe, and which gives us life, carries in its wings 
the vapor to water the earth, and from which the 
dew is distilled through laws which are as fixed and 
constant as those which keep the earth in its orbit. 
No drop of water that comes from the cloud but is 
formed and falls by immutable laws, and in infinite 
Providence it is made and sent for the comfort and 
life no less of Judas than Jesus. It falls on the 
good and bad alike, the just and the unjust. 

§. 2. J^aturalists, observing that members of 
the same class resemble each other in the general 
plan of organization, tell us of their "'unity of type.^^ 
This '^ unity of type " has been called the "soul" 
of ]N'atural history. " What can be more curious," 
says Darwin, "than that the hand of a man formed 
for grasping, that of a mole for digging, the leg of the 
horse, the wing of the bat, and the paddle, of the 
porpois should all be constructed on the same 
pattern, and should include the same bones, in the 
same relative position." Of the relative connection 
in homologous parts Geoffroy St. Hilaire says : "The 
parts may chan2:e to almost any extent in form and 
size and yet they always remain connected together 
in the same order. We never find, for instance, the 
bones of the arm and the fore-arm, or of the thigh 
and leg transposed. Hence these names may be 
given to the homologous parts in widely differer»t 
animals." Owen also tells us that " the skeletons 



64 DIVERSITY IN tNITY. 

of animals whether modified for aquatic, areial or 
terrestrial life, will show that whilst they were 
perfectly and beautifully adapted to the sphere of 
life and exigences of the species, they adhered with 
remarkable constancy to that general pattern or 
archetype, which was first manifested on this planet, 
as geology teaches in the class of fishes, and which has 
not been departed from even in the most extremely 
modified skeleton of the last and highest from that 
creative Wisdom has been pleased to place upon 
this earth." This he tells us is no transcendental 
dream, but the fruit of inductive research. 

We see the same unity of plan in the construc- 
tion of the mouths of insects. ""What can be more 
difterent," says Darwin, " than the immensely long 
spiral proboscis of a sphynx moth, the curious 
folded one of a bee or bug, and the great jaws of a 
beetle; yet all these organs, serving for such different 
purposes, are formed by numerous modifications of 
an upper lip, mandibles, and two pairs of maxilse. 
Analogous laws govern the construction of the 
mouths and limbs of crustaceans. So it is with the 
flowers of plants." 

That l^ature works upon a general plan is seen 
in the growth of vertebrate animals, however widely 
different. This is strikingly manifest in the embryos 
of animals. Thus Yon Baer, the eminent Russian 
naturalist, for many years professor of zoology in 
the University of Konigsberg, says, " The embryos 
of mammalia, of birds, lizards and snakes are in 



EMBRYOS ALIKE. 55 

their earlist states exceedingly like one another, 
both as a whole and in the mode of development of 
their parts; so much in fact that we can often 
distinguish the embryos only by their size. In my 
possession are two little embryos in spirit whose 
names I have omitted to attach, and at present I 
am quite unable to say to what class they belong. 
They may be lizards, or small birds, or very young 
mammalia; so complete is the similarity in the 
mode of formation of the head and trunk of these 
animals. The extremities are still absent in these 
embryos, but even if they existed in the earliest 
stage of their development, we should learn nothing, 
for the feet of lizards and mammals, the wings and 
feet of birds, no less than the hands and feet ot 
man, all arise from the same fundamental form." 
It is thus that science is revealing the unity of 
Nature, and the harmony of her action. At every 
step, of physical science, there comes the evidence 
that nature has but one mode in which she acts, 
and that Diversity is swallowed up in Unity. 

§. 3. But shall we say that nature only proves 
constant in physical action, never in her mental 
forces ? Surely not. She is as constant in the one 
as the other. Let us reason from what we know in 
the animal world. As man's body was typified in 
all vertebral forms below him, so was his mentality. 
His passions, appetites, instincts, reason, and most 
of his habits are all typified in the animal world 



56 DIVERSITY m UNITY. 

below Mm. There is a unitary law running through 
the mental world. Many animals of the same species 
eat one another. Thus the male aligator eats his 
young till too big to gorge at a mouthful. This 
typifies cannibalism. Hogs will eat their young 
often, and man will eat the fiesh of this hog cannibal. 
If man will eat man, deeming it a dainty morsel, it 
is not shocking to find the like done by the inferior 
animal. Men have wondered how man could have 
fallen to such a depth as cannibalism. The wonder 
is how he has risen above it. Human theft is typi- 
fied in every domestic animal, having brought it, no 
doubt from their wild ancestors. Many of them, as 
the cat and the dog, will often hide what they have 
stolen, if too much to eat at once. Robbing is a sort 
of mental glory to the eagle. He will soar for hours 
high in air, or sit perched on some lofty hight, watch- 
ing the active and unwearying fishhawk, hunting 
his prey; and when the hawk has obtained it, and 
is fluttering off through the air, that old robber will 
pounce down on him with a scream and gather up 
the fish before it can fall to the ground or water 
again; and thus carry off the hard and honestly 
earned food of his neighbor, never expecting to give 
a valuable consideration therefor. The English 
cuckoo, and some other birds, will go buccaneering, 
lay their eggs in other birds' nests, and all unmind- 
ful of their own young make other birds bring up a 
foreign progeny. The young cuckoo, it is said, with 
a wonderful selfishness, will cast out the legal heirs 



VICE IN THE ANIMAL WORLD. 57 

of the nest to perish of cold or hunger. In imita- 
tion of the cuckoo's selfishness and lack of maternal 
love, how often do we find mothers belonging to the 
race of man, to forsake their own children, sell or 
ffive them to others. How often do we find some 
basketful of infantile flesh left at some one's door. 
It is difiicult to see the distinction in animal morals 
between the animal that eats its own offspring, and 
the parent who kills the child either before or after 
it is born. If public opinion or selfishness demands 
this of the parent, how low^ and sensual must be that 
public opinion or selfishness. The seeds of prostitu- 
tion are sown in the animal world far below man ; 
creating an insatiable demand in the male, which 
no refinement of life or moral codes can remedy. 
The fire is shot up from the hell of the lower world 
into the veins of man, and there has yet been nothing 
distilled in the laboratory of morals that can extin- 
guish the fire. 

Human slavery is typified in the red ant enslav- 
ing the black ant. We are struck with wonder, and 
almost horror after having been so long engaged in 
getting the black man liberated, through that bloody 
means — death, which is forever to cure the diseases 
of nature, to find one ant enslaving its fellow ; and 
so helpless have the slaveholders become that it 
seems Mature, in her eternal plan, has ordained slav- 
ery as a fact in the life of these ants. This fact was 
first recorded by Pierre Huber in regard to the ant 
Formica rvfescens, "It is absolutely dependent on 



58 DIVERSITY IN UNITY. 

its slaves ; without their aid the species would cer- 
tainly become extinct in a single year," says this 
learned naturalist. " The males and fertile females 
do not work, they are incapable of making their 
own nests, or of feeding their own larvae. When 
the old nest is found inconvenient and they have to 
migrate it is the slaves which determine the migra- 
tion and actually carry their masters in their jaws." 
" So utterly helpless are those masters," says Dar- 
win, " that when Huber shut up thirty of them 
without a slave, but with plenty of food which they 
like best, and with their larvse and pupse to stimu- 
late them to work, they did nothing; they could 
not even feed themselves, and many perished of 
hunger. Huber then introduced a single slave, and 
she instantly set to work, fed and saved the sur- 
vivors, made some cells, and tended the larvae, and 
put all to rights." But the naturalist might have 
taken this fact as an act of life-long benevolence in 
one ant towards its feeble fellow had he not run 
across the slave-catching Formica sanguinea. These 
ants are active, pioneering, courageous little fellows, 
and capture the black ant as the Spanish and English 
captured the black man in Africa, for the purposes 
of labor. 

Thus we might go on, and we would find in the 
animal world, which many moralists have called so 
innocent and pure, all the vices to which man is 
addicted, typifying these vices in him. There we 
find murder, the most relentless and cruel ; theft the 



MAN'S DARK NATURE TYPIFIED. 59 

most cunning and secretive ; robbery the most piti- 
less and daring; slavery the most abject and perfect. 
There we find all the horrid vices which arise from 
the sexual instinct: — incipient prostitution, rape — in 
short, Lust. There we find the minor vices of a 
refined selfishness; pride, vanity, jealousy, coquetry, 
There we find also the vices of dishonor: — deceit, 
lying, treachery, fraud, and, lastly, war. We find 
all Kature has a dark ground, an obverse as well as 
reverse face. IS'ame a crime, to which man is addicted, 
and its roots can be traced far down into the animal 
world. 

This dark side to all nature surely looks devilish ; 
it is slimy with the slippery embrace of monsters of 
the land and sea ; it is putrid with the festering vices 
of humanity. We look into natural history, and 
there we see reflected as in a mirror of hell, held by 
fiendish hands, the image of man's dark nature 
struggling in the coils of the fabled serpent. We 
are thus forced to conclude that physically and men- 
tally, !N"ature has a unitary universal root, which runs 
through the whole animal world. 

§. 4. The assertion that "only man is vile," 
science bluntly contradicts; in fact the good and 
pure are pre-eminently found there. This leads us 
on to ask : what is the great distinction between man 
and inferior animals? In other words: how shall we 
define man? Shall we say with Carlyle, he is a 
forked radish with a head fantastically carved, or 



60 DIVERSITY IN UNITY. 

that lie is created in the image of God ? The one 
is about as scientific as the other. Both are expres- 
sions of utter failure at definition. Yet, the two 
combined will bring us nearer the truth than any 
definition we have hitherto seen. He is a combina- 
tion of the vegetable and the god. There is mind 
and matter wedded. He is an illustration of univer- 
sal polarity, rooted to earth, yet stretching out 
towards conscious existence hereafter. He draws 
his nourishment from the earth like the vegetable, 
yet is quickened with sensations produced by an 
infinite Force. ISTor do we arrive at further truth by 
trying to distinguish man as a genus, and say herein 
he is radically difibrent from all other animals. 
Huxley tells us, the difference between man and the 
monkey is the anatomist's difficulty. There is no 
such anatomical difference as the hands and feet 
indicate to the natural eye. Science looks closer 

and finds none. Mentallv we are at a farther loss 

»/ 

to distinguish. Agassiz says he cannot say in 
what the mental faculties of a child differ from 
those of a young chimpanzee, and he thinks, as 
did Theodore Parker, that the argument for im- 
mortal life will hold for the animal as well as man. 
Professor Huxley says, "l!^o impartial judge can 
doubt, that the roots, as it were, of those great 
faculties which confer on man his immeasurable 
superiority above all other animate things, are trace- 
able for down into the animate world. The dog, 
the cat, the parrot, return love for our love, and 



A DIFFERENCE. 61 

hatred for hatred. They are capable of shame and 
sorrow, and though they may have no logic, nor 
conscious ratiocination, no one, who has watched 
their ways, can doubt that they possess that power 
of rational cerebration which evolves reasonable 
acts, from the premises furnished by the senses — a 
process which takes fully as large a share as con- 
cious reason in human activity." 

It is safe to affirm the diiierence between man 
and the monkey is only one of growth, not one of 
IsTature's plans which would make us radically differ- 
ent. For example : the initiative faculty and reason 
have grown into what is termed the inventive genius. 
This is the perfection of the rudimentary instinct of 
other animals. The bee makes her hexagonal comb 
to store away her winter's food, but goes no farther 
in art. For -ages, perhaps, the young bee has made 
no improvement on the mother's work. Yet, the 
perfection of the hive-bee's work is one of physical 
growth. The beaver builds his dam to deepen the 
water to add to his commissary of provisions; but 
the young beaver makes no perceptible improve- 
ment on generations past. The birds build their 
nests just as the mothers of their kind built for ages 
before them, and if any changes have come in these 
instinct arts, they have been produced in change of 
conditions, imperceptibly in long periods of time. 
There is nothing progressive in design in all this. 
But there seems to be no limit to the constructive 
and inventive genius of man. He builds things in 



62 DIVERSITY IN UNITY. 

the head before he puts them in material shape. 
He goes forth and takes beams, and plates, and 
polished wood out of the oak which grew for cen- 
turies uncared for and unthought of only in the 
farreaching thought of the Infinite, and builds 
houses for himself, and barns for the companions of 
the plow. He builds ships, and guides his course on 
sea by the stars and the magnetic needle. He builds 
houses for transporting vehicles, driven by steam; 
makes hoes and plows to cultivate the soil, to perfect 
tree and grain and vegetable, that else could not 
have been perfected. He talks over land and under 
water — speaking across a continent or through an 
ocean ; magnifies his eyesight a thousand-fold. All 
the happy arts of life which go to add comfort and 
and ease, to give pleasure and secure peace, spring 
directly from the inventive genius of man, each and 
all being first formed in the ideal, the mind creating, 
the hand fashing. In this he is superior to all other 
animals. In intelligence, accumulated by design, he 
is also far superior. The knowledge of most of the 
lower animals is confined to transmitted habit, called 
instinct, and a limited accumulation of facts through 
reason and experience ; but man grasps to all else, 
hidden truths of the world of matter and of man. 
He not only discovers the simple truths of ^Nature, 
but deduces others from known premises by process 
of abstract reasoning. In this field of knowledge 
there seems to be no end to his attainments, digging 
the truth out of the ideal soil of the world. The 



THE IDEAL CONCEPTION. 63 

facts of experience he stores away in the laboratory 
of his knowledge, and when he wants a lesson of 
wisdom to give to others, he tells of like results 
from like causes, and foretells coming events by 
reasoning on the fixed purposes of Nature. It is in 
the Ideal world where some men rise immeasura- 
bly above the animal world, and the degarded and 
barbarous of mankind. It is here necessary to 
particularize and qualify. In using the term man 
as distinguishable from the animal we mean the 
man who is capable of ideal conception. The Ideal 
is the highest attainable conception, though in itself 
it admits of degrees, and forever varies. It is the 
transition from the concrete sensation imaging the 
real, to the abstract conception imaging the ideal, 
which seems to make the crowning distinction be- 
tween man and animal. It is the transition from 
the imitative to the creative thought. We see no 
work of animal which cannot be explained upon the 
hypothesis of imitation, even when they better their 
own works. But, man has ideal patterns which he 
tries to put into material form, whether of tool 
house, animal, or man ; and the highest act is to aim 
to create the ideal man. This does not violate the 
assumption that the ideal is the ripened fruit of the 
imitative faculty. In other words that Imitation and 
Ideality are opposite poles of the same faculty. 

§. 5. Before we proceed let us sum up the fore- 
going conclusions : 



64 DIVERSITY IN UNITY. 

1. It is assumed that Evil is. 

2. It cannot be defined. 

3. It precedes all finite intelligence. 

4. Imperfection is a perpetual fact; because, an 
expression of finite force. 

5. Morality and special evils are the result of it. 

6. Morality cannot be defined. 

7. The Infinite is, but cannot be defined. It is 
only posited as the Absolute Force. 

8. There are reasons for affirming the Absolute 
Force to be a conscious Force. 

9. Man is a progressive finite intelligence. 

10. He must be forever imperfect. 

11. ISTo perfect law can be given. 

12. If given, it could not be obeyed. 

13. Condition determines volition. 

14. Self-preservation is the first law of life. 

15. Variation is universal, and this fact of end- 
less distribution, is swallowed up in the infinite 
unity of all. I^ature expresses Diversity in Unity. 

16. Dissatisfaction is the mainspring of Pro- 
gress. This evolves the Better. 

17. Laws and religions are the result thereof. 

18. These express development do not pro- 
duce it. 

19. The Ideal is the crowning thought of man, 
but is necessarily limited and imperfect. 

20. The Golden Eule is the law of sympathy and 
will never work because devoid, of a penalty. 

21. Punishment is an inexorable law of Mature. 



THE BENEFIT OF A DOUBT. 65 

22. Justice is scientific aud will work, because 
it punishes error, sin and ignorance. 

The foregoing conclusions, it appears to us, are 
founded in the nature of things. Tiewed in the 
light of the Infinite on the one hand and the finite 
on the other, they come with axiomatic weight. But 
as the human mind is prone at times to doubt the 
authority of axioms, and even to question the truths 
of experience, we must grant what the mind requires 
— the benefit of a doubt. We do not feel authorized 
to affirm that man a fool who questions the truth of 
an axiom, but we are warranted in affirming that 
man not wise who sets no value on the facts of expe- 
rience. We will therefore present some further 
considerations which may rise to the dignity of First 
PrincipleSy before we evolve the Science of Evil. 



CHAPTER IV. 

MATTER AND FORCE. 

§. 1. I^ature is dual. That is, there exists J!frt^ 
ter and Force. These two things are real and dis- 
tinct, and never can be in any sense identical in 
nature. The one acts, the other is acted upon. 
There is the actor, and the medium of action. But 
the two co-exist and cannot be separated. As man- 
ifestations of Force we may mention light, heat and 
electricity. These manifestations of Force, are 
often called forces. These, however, are only the 
effects of Force acting on Matter. For brevity we call 
them forces, but must all be considered as one force. 
They are all finite expression of the infinite and 
one Force, as the atoms of matter may be distin- 
guished as oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, etc., yet all 
finite expressions of Universal Matter. If the 
Universal Force Avere called Mind it would answer 
just as well. But these separate kinds of matter 
are known or distinguished only by the kind of 
motion which Force produces by acting upon them, 



THE POLARITY OF FORCE. 67 

as the chemical affinity between unlike elements. 
The attraction of gravitation, acting upon like 
masses, would not thus distinguish diiFerent ele- 
ments. So also of forces; the affinity of chlorine 
for the metal sodium to form a salt is diffiBrent 
from the affinity of oxygen for the same metal to 
form soda. Soda and salt express a compound of 
diffisrent chemical elements and forces, yet both 
forces are called affinity. So the force which keeps 
the moon in its orbit around the earth, is a different 
force from that which keeps the earth in its orbit 
around the sun, yet both are of the same kind called 
gravity. Now, if you go to the top of a tower, and 
cast a stone horizontally, the force, which makes it 
fall to the earth, is the same kind of force which 
keeps the earth in its orbit around the sun. Yet 
the motion of the stone is partial and incomplete, 
describing a part of an hyperbolic curve and not 
one which would keep it going. 

So, alsOj of mental force, this is quantitative and 
qualitative; secondary and original; that which is 
produced and that which produces, at the same time 
the effect and the cause. 

§. 2. The most peculiar characteristic of Force 
is that which is termed Polarity. Here we must 
particularize. It is the function of Force to move 
matter. Force expresses itself in the motion of 
matter. Matter is in perpetual motion. There is 
perhaps no atom of matter in the universe that ever 



68 MATTER AND FORCE, 

came to absolute rest This earth has several 
motions; three upon its axis, one accomplished in 
twenty-four hours, one in nineteen years, and a third 
in about twenty-six thousand years. It also has a 
yearly motion around the sun, and one with the 
solar system; and doubtless other motions we know 
not of, motions of aberration, caused by the disturb- 
ing influence of other celestial bodies. There are 
motions produced by Force acting on celestial bodies, 
which may be called Celestial force. But matter is 
made to assume many motions, so made by Force, 
from the atom or molecule to the celestial body, 
and is known in its solid, liquid, gaseous and ethe- 
rial states. Thus, we have the motion of matter 
called light, the motion of matter called heat, and 
another motion of matter called electricity; and we 
affirm there is still another motion of matter called 
thought; governed by the same general laws. What 
is called mind we assume to be Force. 

When Force acts, it is found to be in certain 
definite ways. This is termed the manner of its 
action, or its law. Thus it acts equally in opposite 
directions; and, in mechanics, we say action and 
re-action are equal. Herein we have evolved a law 
of equality. This is when the force has a fixed 
centre of action. Thus equal weights will balance 
on the two equal arms of a lever. This is a definite 
force in equilibrium. Or drop a pebble in still water 
and waves will radiate in every direction. These, 
however, are but partial manifestations of the law, 



WHAT A LAW IS. 69 

as the wave is only seen in latteral or horizontal 
motion : and in the scales the wave of motion must 
be perpendicular. But if we should say, the sun 
radiates light, it is a complete centre of motion, and 
the radiations would be as from the centre of a 
globe, continuous in all directions ; and each wave 
would represent the increasing surface of a sphere. 
But again we may say, motion decreases inversely 
as the square of the distance from its centre. This 
is another laic. But these laws are deduced as 
abstract. That is, no disturbing force is allowed to 
figure in the premises. They are abstractly true, and 
are called general laws, but in the concrete they are 
not true, for there is constant interference, in the 
finite parts, and one centre of motion may conflict 
with another : As when light radiates from the sun 
in accordance with the general law, the earth 
breaks the wave of motion, at a certain point in the 
radiating sphere, and makes a cone of darkness, — the 
earth as its base and the vertex reaching far into 
space. So that really it is not true that light con- 
tinues in all directions. What is meant is, it would 
if not interfered with. 'Nor can it be said it 
diminishes inversely as the square of the distance 
from the radiating centre; for it may be entirely 
neutralized at a given point by counteracting forces 
or augmented by other forces. 'Now, when we say, 
motion radiates equally from a common centre in 
all directions, w^e express the polarity of force, 
which is true in the abstract, but not truly expressed 



70 MATTER AND FORCE. 

in action when a force is disturbed. The magnet 
is a good illustration of the polarity of electrical 
force ; and from this we use the terms positive and 
negative as expressing one force acting in different 
directions. 

It is quite evident, if Force acts on matter to 
move it, then Force and Matter must either be 
universally diffused or have some great centre. It 
is, perhaps, the only safe assumption to affirm 
Infinite Force to be universally diffused and inheres 
in the atom. But, if so, each atom must move and 
express polarity. The atomic motion must then be 
the basis for other motions which are derivative and 
dependent on this. But derivative motion must 
partake of the parent form, which has evolved it, 
and so we have two great laws to express Force, 
which we may combine, thus : Force ever evolves its 
oivn like, and acts in polarity. But this again, ex- 
presses Diversity in Unity. 

§. 3. Inductively we may be led to the same 
conclusions. If a magnetic needle be divided into 
two parts it is found there are two magnetic needles 
made by the division; and it matters not how many 
times it be divided, polarity still exists in each part, 
whence we may conclude this property inheres in 
the atom. But again, if we now take two magnetic 
needles of equal force, and place them together, with 
poles reversed, the forces of both are neutralized, 
so that the compound needle will not exhibit 



CONFLICT OF FORCES. 71 

polarit}^ It cannot be said the forces are destroyed 
but merely balanced, for polarity is at once evoked 
mth the slightest disturbance in the equilibrium. 
In fact, it is from its disturbance that we gain 
knowledge of Force. ISTow this is true of forces, it 
matters not what the conditions. One will disturb 
its fellow, and cause some change therein, when 
brought into proximity; and it must necessarily 
follow, the stronger force will prevail ; yet weakened 
in its inherent power by the quantity of conflicting 
force, till the prevailing force has conquered the 
weaker and brought all the atoms into the same 
kind of motion. It then may have an increment 
of force from the one which at first opposed it. If 
this reasoning be true, then it is possible that sound 
opposed to sound will produce silence; light opposed 
by light will produce darkness ; mechanical motion 
opposed to mechanical motion will produce rest; 
and chemical energy counteract chemical energy. 
All of which science has proved true by experiment. 
It is in this way Force may be rendered latent , 
put to sleep as it were, for it can never be destroyed; 
and at the same time be so bound, that the individual 
atom may be replaced by others, and so continue 
active yet apparently inactive, till other forces set it 
free again. For all forces, which are derivative, con 
tain primary forces within them which do not cease 
acting while the derivative force is asleep. Secondary 
force, which is thus at rest, is said to be in a statical 
condition, — when active in a dynamical condition. 



72 MATTER AND FORCE. 

For example : The tree accumulates force from the 
atmosphere and earth, storing it away in the wood. 
To liberate this, great force is evolved in heat. The 
whole vegetable world is a great storehouse of force. 
The earth itself is a vast reservoir of force. The 
coal beds are force in statical condition. The force 
of coal is unlocked and set free by chemical action. 
These are examples of forces balancing or neutraliz- 
ing each other, or force in equilibrium. 

But on the other hand force in action begets its 
like and this may be called imjpression or induction. 
This must be true of both original and derivative 
forces. 

§. 4. We are now enabled to distinguish ab- 
stractly and scientifically between organic and 
inorganic bodies, and this solely by the play of 
forces within their parts. To do this, we assume, 
the ultimate atom or molecule is in motion. This 
motion is peculiar to each atom ; as we assume no 
two atoms are exactly alike ; yet, very many may 
nearly resemble each, other, and their motions would 
be almost alike; which would distinguish atoms 
into elements. As, for example, we assume no two 
kernels of wheat or corn are alike, yet they so 
nearly resemble each other that they may be classed 
as corn and wheat. It is in this way we also may 
class the elements as oxygen, carbon, etc. The motions 
of the elementary atoms are each as elements differ- 
ent and original, and never cease. Like atoms have like 



LIKE ATOMS, LIKE MOTIONS. 73 

motions, and these atoms may be aggregated in kind, 
or diffused through each other. The atomic motion 
is the most powerful. It would be easier to stop 
the rotation of the earth than to stop the motion of 
one atom of oxygen. But now these atomic motions 
must conflict, as they are different in kind, yet have 
no power to destroy one another; all they can do at 
most, is to oppose and by equality, as it were, place 
each other in equilibrium, or by union produce a 
new kind of motion. It is the like kind of motions 
which produce equilibrium, but unlike kinds which 
produce a new motion. This new motion we call a 
compound motion ; as for example oxygen and car- 
bon combine to form new substances, but the new 
substance only expresses a new or compound motion 
in its parts. This we call a derivative motion, or 
new expression of force. It is not a new or differ- 
ent kind of force, but merely a new expression in 
matter; yet we will call it a new force, meaning 
always thereby a new motion. 

But it is plain this new or derivative force may 
be again compounded with an original or compound 
force and produce one differing from either. l!^ow 
this last derivative force may be opposed by another 
of the same kind, and so neutralized or balanced, 
that it may be said to be put to rest, but at the 
same time the original or atomic force or other 
derivative forces within, may still be active : — which 
is only saying the atoms of the whole are in motion ; 
but the compound body does not change. But if 



74 MATTER AND FORCE. 

this be so, then the atoms may pass off, and their 
places be filled by like atoms. That is the com- 
pound body, force or motion would remain; but the 
atoms of which it is composed may also remain, or 
partly or wholly pass off. This is the legitimate 
conclusion deduced from atomic motion which can 
never cease. But this, we affirm, is the basis for a 
distinction between inorganic and organic bodies. 
In the former all the atoms are retained with their 
forces ; in the latter, some of the atoms or all pass 
out, to be replaced by other atoms with their like 
forces in kind. Only a partial transmission is, 
perhaps, common to all vegetable and some animals; 
but just where, in the animal economy, all may be 
said to pass off in the life of each it is difficult to 
tell. But one thing must be evident, the change of 
parts, the development and reduction of all bodies 
whether organic or inorganic must be due to forces, 
their constancy and precision of action, not on the 
variable and constantly moving atom. To the atom 
is due the variation, the diversity; to the force, the 
likeness, and constancy expressed in the universe. 
Force and Matter then express the law, Diversity in 
Unity. 

§. 5. But again. Motion is transferable ; and by 
this we mean that like begets its like. This is 
peculiarly the property of Force, which ever tends 
to this, and it could not express vanety were it not 
for the unlike atoms. As simple and common illus- 



LIKE BEGETS LIKE. 75 

trations of this we say laughter begets laughter, 
weeping begets weeping; sympathy, love, hatred, 
anger; these beget their like. This is only transfer- 
able force, or like atoms induced into like motions, 
when coming within the vibrating wave. Fear also 
begets fear. A panic is induced in a regiment by 
the intense and uncontrolable fear of one soldier. 
Bravery is also, transferred from a commander to 
his army, as has often been shown. Sheridan at 
Cedar Run is an illustration of this. Napoleon was 
a peculiar illustration of this characteristic of Force. 
He was conceived when his father was grasping the 
sword; his mother carried him to battle in her 
womb ; and he was born upon tapestry embroidered 
representing the battles and heroes of the Iliad. The 
forces of war were all centred within him. He was 
born a magazine of war-forces; and from himself 
radiated their waves throughout France. This force 
was strong and permanent within him, and he in- 
duced or begot its like temporarily within all who 
came near him. It was not only a man or an army 
he inspired with war; it was a whole nation. It 
was not Cambronne, nor the Guard, but E'apoleon, 
who spoke when they returned to the Allied Forces : 
" The Guard dies, it never surrenders." 

It is thus, also, thought induces its own self. 
How often two persons begin to speak after a pro- 
tracted silence the same thing, however remote 
from the subject of conversation when last talking. 
That it was not a train of logical thought, has often 



76 MATTER AND FORCE. 

been proven in two ways ; tracing back the thought 
through two entirely different and conflicting routes, 
and by the persons at the same instant speaking the 
same loords. Some persons, also, looking at the dis- 
eased part of another, will often feel a like pain or 
uneasy sensation in the like part upon themselves. 

We have frequently seen a man read the charac- 
ters of persons by simply holding a letter from them 
in his hand, without looking at the writing ; and a 
man who would answer any written question by 
placing it in his hand, however securely folded or 
kept from his vision. 

But this is not alone a peculiarity of mental 
force ; there may hundreds of illustrations be taken 
from other sources; as, for example, the " Singing 
Hydrogen Flame." By lowering a glass tube over 
a burning hydrogen jet a short distance, and secur- 
ing it there, while in this position no sound is emit- 
ted. But if now a person begins to sing the scale, 
when the proper note is struck the tube begins to 
sing the note, and continues it. This is an illustration 
only of transmitted motion in the atmosphere. But 
it is the motion of matter, produced by force, which 
makes all impressions of whatever kind. These 
impressions are universal wherever force acts ; and 
it is only a very small part that are made on, within 
and around us, that we ever become conscious of. 
These impressions are lasting, as well as instantar 
neous. It only wants science to bring them out 
and read them. Says Youmans in his chemistry — 



THE LA W OF IMPRESSION. 77 

" If we cover a board with powdered sulphite of 
calcium, (made adherent by a previous coating of 
gum arabic), lay a key upon it, and expose it for a 
few minutes to sunlight ; on bringing it into a dark 
room and removing the key, a dark, well-defined 
image of it is seen on a white ground. The sur- 
rounding phosphorescent glow gradually diminishes 
and the image disappears. IN'ow place a pencil on 
the surface and expose it again, and when the image 
vanishes repeat the exposure a third time with a 
ring. When all traces of the last image are gone, 
heat the board and the images will reappear in re- 
verse order, — first the ring, then the pencil, then the 
key. And they have been thus evoked weeks and 
months after they were formed." * * * "It 
would moreover seem that one object can hardly 
touch or approach another without impressing a 
change upon it which is more or less lasting. If 
we lay a wafer or small coin upon a piece of clean, 
cold glass, or polished metal, and breathe upon the 
surface, upon tossing ofi* the object after the mois- 
ture has evaporated, not a trace of it will remain. 
But if we breathe upon it again, a spectral image 
of the coin or wafer comes forth, which as it fades 
away may be again, and again, recalled by a breath, 
even months afterwards. Objects also impress each 
other without contact. Engineers have noticed that 
the near parts of machinery visibly impressed each 
other. By exposure over night, a very distinct 
image of the grain of wood has been obtained, 



78 MATTER AND FORCE. 

when placed more than half an inch from the re- 
ceiving surface." 

All these facts are simple illustrations of the 
one law of Force, that it ever tends to produce its 
like, and expressing this law only in the motion of 
matter. 

This beautifully solves the mystery of Inher- 
itance, as we will now briefly notice in a few objec- 
tions to the Darwinian theory of " Gemmules," as 
stated in his chapter on Pangenesis. 

§. 6. The great work of Darwin has laid the 
world under lasting obligations for that vast collec- 
tion of facts which he has brought together in his 
book on ^'Plants and Animals under Domestication." 
"Every one," he says, "would wish to explain to 
himself, even in an imperfect manner, how it is pos- 
sible for a character possessed by some remote an- 
cestor suddenly to reappear in the ofi:spring ; how 
the effect of increased or decreased use of a limb 
can be transmitted to the child; how the male 
sexual element can act not solely on the ovule but 
occasionally on the mother form ; how a limb can 
be reproduced on the exact line of amputation, with 
neither too much nor too little added ; how the va- 
rious modes of reproduction are connected, and so 
forth." To which we Avould add, how the image of 
an object may be imprinted on the body of a child, 
or how a permanent characteristic may be given to 
it before birth from temporary mental excitement 
or desire of the mother. 



DARWIN'S THEORY OF GEMMULES. 79 

Darwin presents the following Provisional Hy- 
pothesis : " The whole organization, in the sense of 
every separate atom or unit, reproduces itself. 
Hence ovules and pollen grains, — the fertilized seed 
or Qgg, as well as buds, — include and consist of a 
multitude of germs thrown off from each separate 
atom of the organism." This multitude of germs 
thrown off from each atom he terms " gemmules," 
and he further says they must be thrown off during 
all the stages of development. These gemmules 
are matter and transmitted in substance. We would 
substitute in place of this the following hypothesis : 
Each organism is a union of compound forces. 
Each separate compound force begets its own like 
motion in each cell of its structure. These cellular 
forces are continually modified by new conditions, 
which will render in time the organism more com- 
plex. The atoms of each cell are in progressive 
motion ; that is, new atoms of the same kind are 
continually taking the place of the old atoms which 
pass away. But as it is the constant attribute of 
Force to express polarity, each separate compound 
force must express polarity in the organism. Hence 
each separate faculty, muscle, nerve and bone must 
be dual. In other words, each entire organism, 
however simple or complex, contains within it both 
sexes, in cellular duality. 

The crowning difference between this theory and 
Darwin's is, we assume that it is Force which begets 
itself, while he assumes that it is matter which be- 



80 MATTER AND FORCE. 

gets its own like. By Darwin's theory, each atom 
throws oiFa multitude of " gemmules " during all the 
stages of development. To make the theory work 
and fulfill all the conditions of each supposable 
case, this would have to be true. But this is not 
all ; these " gemmules " would all have to be 
transmitted in substance. It may be objected that, 
however minutely divided, these gemmules are 
nevertheless matter; and if thrown ofl*, say during 
a period of sixty years, they would have to be re- 
tained in the body that time. It is moreover neces- 
sary that each atom should throw of its gemmules 
at each minute subdivision of time, which it is 
impossible to compute, for no one can tell how rap- 
idly development takes place, if at all, by known 
subdivisions of time. So that while the " gemmule " 
is indeed minute, the time in which it is thrown ofl" 
is correspondingly short. The number, therefore, 
of such atomic births for one hour must be im- 
mense ; and if multiplied into a life of sixty years, 
or more, must be quite materially perceptible. But 
when all these " gemmules " are transmitted, either 
in a latent or active form, there must be an accumu- 
lation of unchangeable matter at some point of 
time, say in ten thousand years. But in living 
organisms we find no such fixity to matter; not 
even that a single atom remains in the cell for a 
day. The body of man changes so rapidly that 
perhaps no individual atom of matter is retained in 
it more than a month. But if a " oremmule" could 



A MODIFICATION OF FORCE. 81 

remain unchanged, an atom could ; and if an atom 
a cell, and if a cell a whole- structure. Biology 
seems, therefore, to negative the hypothesis. 

Again : How shall we account, upon this hy- 
pothesis, for acquired characteristics, transmitted 
drunkenness ; transmitted mania to steal ; bodily 
and mental impressions, directly from the mother, 
while the child is in the womb ; or for variation in 
any form ? Simply by modified cells, which im- 
plies modified atoms and " gemmules." This, the 
author of Pangenesis asserts, must be the case. 
But " gemmules " are matter, — and how is matter 
modified ? ^ot in the structure of the ultimate 
atom, for chemistry negatives this ; but simply in 
its combination with other atoms. But this is only 
chemical change. In other words, a "gemmule" 
can only be modified by chemical action. But this 
is a modification of Force., not matter. "Why not say, 
then, there is a modification of forces in the living 
organism, which is induced in each atom, with 
which the modified force is related, and which must 
be transmitted to the ofispring, therein to act with 
regularity and precision, to be again modified, con- 
trolled or counteracted by other forces with which 
it comes in contact ? This modified force may 
receive increments of like force, and so be en- 
hanced or intensified, or it may be neutralized, and 
so lie dormant. 

Upon this hypothesis the force perpetuates itself 
in the fine of the least resistance ; and leaps from 
G 



82 MATTER AND FORCE. 

atom to atom as soon as brought within the circle 
of its influence. The atoms of the body may be 
replaced by other atoms, in the "wear and tear" 
of the same body, or in the building up of a new 
body in reproduction. It is in this way a force may 
be lying latent^ as It were, by action in a living and 
changing organism, and may be perpetuated from 
generation to generation, and only become visible 
when some favorable condition will bring it out. 
It is not necessary to perpetuate force, that the cell 
or the gemmule should remain in the living organ- 
ism, any more than that the raindrop which goes 
to form the rainbow should halt to perpetuate the 
image. As the rainbow is reflected from millions 
of different drops in a shower, and at no two sec- 
onds is reflected from the same drops, so a force 
may continue for years in the same body instantly 
changing its atoms, or for ages in the reproduction 
of its kind. The functional or structural modifica- 
tion of a cell must lead ine^dtably to the structural 
or functional modification of an atom or "gem- 
mule," which must be retained in the body in 
multiple form to perpetuate itself in the offspring. 
But, on the other hand, if it be force which is mod- 
ified, its modification will at once produce structural 
and functional modification in the organism. But 
we find secondary force can be and is modified 
daily and hourly. It may be increased or dimin- 
ished, or entirely neutralized. It may be put to 
sleep or awakened. It may be changed in form. 



MAN A STOREHOUSE OF FORCES. 83 

quality, quantity, intensity, but never destroyed, 
while the atoms of matter in which it acts or sleeps 
may, by an original motion of their own, pass away 
from this secondary active or sleeping force. Force 
may come in the sunlight and reappear in the coal 
a million of years after, having locked up the atom 
perhaps in mineral form ; or it may appear in the 
thought of Peter the hermit, and inoculate nations 
of men with a religious zeal which shall last two 
hundred years, as a single atom with distructive 
force would spread pestilence throughout a nation ; 
example of force acting in mental or physical form. 
Or as a combination of both, it may appear in the 
erratic course of a drunken man, and reappear in 
the mad course of vicious offspring, ^ay, the 
force which played such wild freaks in the bodies 
of extinct animals, may be living to-day in other 
bodies somewhat modified, while the cells and 
gemmules of matter in those extinct animals upon 
which this living force acted may be now bound 
up in solid rock. 

Man is not a storehouse of matter, for this con- 
stantly changes and passes away from the body, but 
that which is constant and remains is Force. Mat- 
ter cannot remain latent in man, or it would thus 
accumulate and obstruct the action of the many 
busy housekeepers, the forces within. But we can 
readily understand what is meant when one speaks 
of a latent force coiled up like a spring in this bodily 
temple of ours ; and when some ancestral feature or 



84 MATTER AND FORCE. 

habit speaks out in us not known to our parents 
even, it is made plain enough when it is affirmed 
'the long bound force has been set free.' It would 
obscure the mental vision and confound the under- 
standing, to speak of latent matter in the body, re- 
siding in our ancestors for a thousand years. Man 
is rather a storehouse of vast forces. These are 
stored away in muscle, nerve, bone, brain, ready for 
use Avhen called into action, and he is not like the 
plant acted upon by external conditions for a man- 
ifestation of force, but he can in some measure 
invoke the forces within him, and compel them to 
act. He can guide their action and bind them up 
again. The theory of latent material " gemmules" 
it appears to us is akin to the old theory of latent 
fluid heat. 

But again : How can it be said that matter 
begets its like ? Matter we assume is increate and 
unbegotten. It then has nothing to beget. Every 
atom that will be is already begotten. Changed., it 
is said, into new forms, which new forms resemble 
the parent forms. But how changed ? I^ot by itself, 
for it cannot itself act. It is Force then which acts 
in, through and upon matter, Force only it is which 
may lie dormant, Force only can be evoked. It is 
only Force which begets its like. That is, induces 
like motions in material atoms. When the son at 
maturity resembles his father, we do not mean then, 
that the son contains in his body some original mat- 
ter in multitudinous " gemmules" which his father 



A STRANGE WARFARE OF GEMMULES. 85 

actually once carried about with Mm in his body, 
which by multiplying produced the son in the image 
of his father; but we mean, the force which gener- 
ates its like in action, has aggregated like, yet en- 
tirely separate, elements into like features, which 
force forces like features into like expressions, at 
corresponding ages; moving the nostrils and lips 
the same ; modulating sound from the throat the 
same ; drives the flesh into like habits, of gesture, 
gait and labor, and the mind into like channels of 
thought and disposition. It is Force, not Matter, 
which does this. 

Inheritance is a law of the mind as well as the 
body. What aggregation of material " gemmules" 
can be set oft' for theft begotten in the daughter, 
drunkenness in the son, insanity in one, lust in an- 
other? What aggregation of material " gemmules" 
which shall in these same persons oppose in mental 
conflict all these vices, and cause contrition and re- 
morse. This would indeed be a strange warfare of 
transmitted ''• gemmulesJ^ May it not better be said 
it is a conflict of mental forces^ and that man can in 
a measure control these forces, guide or subdue 
them ? 

But mental inheritance is displayed in society on 
a far grander scale than in the animal alone. The 
aggregate world where there is inter-communication 
inherits the mental forces of the past. To-day is 
mentally begotten of yesterday, and the variation 
only comes in the new conditions of to-day produc- 



86 MATTER AND FORCE. 

ing new or evoking latent forces ; which are again 
transmitted in worldly mental function to to-morrow. 
These are the mighty mental forces which act as 
States or Nations, the aggregate of many separate 
centers of forces. Here we also see the great law 
of Induction, or Force begetting its like in what is 
called public opinion, or jpuhlic conscience, guiding 
each separate individual, the atom of the state, in 
thought and action, appearing in dress and litera- 
ture, and in habits of all sorts. There is no hypoth- 
esis of transmitted "gemmules" which can explain 
this. 

Every animal which has preceded man has had 
a mental as well as physical life which has been 
transmitted to the world. As two cells of matter 
enlivened with Force may multiply a million-fold, 
evolving from the homo^enious cells a complex or- 
ganism which passes into being of different form 
and habit, evolving now a caterpillar, and then a fly- 
ing moth; the one crawling on the earth and eating 
its substance, the other a winged psyche living in the 
sunbeam and extracting the nectar of flowers; so 
mental action ever passes from the lower to the 
higher, from the simple cell of one idea to the com- 
plex logic of science ; from the low and barbarous 
instinct of savage life to the far-reaching and refined 
thought of civilized man. This earth is older than 
we have been accustomed to think. Physically and 
mentally its foundations lie deep in time. The 
softer strata which lie super-imposed upon each 



THE PRESENT BUILT ON THE PAST 87 

other, all have a granite bed, lying close upon the 
central fire, and the alluvium of our fields tells a 
story older than mountain or continent of to-day. 
So the close reason, the quick perception, the intu- 
itive inspiration, which give rise to all human mental 
phenomena of to-day, lie super-imposed on the men- 
tal grantite of the stone age, and are older than the 
Herschels and I^ewtons ; the Aristotles and Platos 
of the historic period. It is just as necessary that 
Thales should precede Socrates, as that Socrates 
should precede Aristotle. Just as necessary that 
these should precede Copernicus, as that Copernicus 
should precede Galileo and l^ewton. Without the 
Indian and Egyptian mind, there would have been 
no Greece. Without Greece no science to-day, any 
more than there could be to-day without yesterday. 
So also of Religion. — The Protestant church has 
numberless branches to-day; and it is itself a branch 
of the Christian Catholic Trunk, whose roots pene- 
trate the Roman, Grecian, Egyptian and Indian soil 
for nourishment. The Cross of the Catholic is de- 
scended from more self-sacrificing and superstitious 
times than the Christian age and many a god was 
crucified on it before Jesus of I^azareth. There is 
not a rite in the Christian church that does not date 
back of Christianity a thousand years. And there 
is no man, who says his prayers to-day, who does not 
take hold of the hand of every worshipper on earth; 
whether he kneels to Eire, Sun, Image, Hero or 
Spirit. The origin of our worship is as humble aa 



88 MATTER AND FORCE. 

the lowest type of man, and the religions and faiths 
and creeds of the world are all brothers and sisters 
to one another, l^o Spiritualist would be to-day 
without Protestantism ; no Protestant without Cath- 
olicism; no Catholic without the old Roman relig- 
ion ; no Roman religion without the Polytheism of 
Greece and the Monotheism of the Jews ; no Gre- 
cian or Hebrew faith, without Egyptian Idolatry; 
no Egyptian worship without the countless years of 
religion lying hid beyond. 

Just so also of Law. The lawyer of to-day in this 
country takes hold of the hand of Kent ; Kent re- 
peated Blackstone ; he repeated Coke ; Coke, Lyt- 
tleton ; Lyttleton the Pandects of Justinian ; and 
he ]!Tuma, Solon and Lycurgus; and so on back to 
song and traditional story, when the people obeyed 
the verbal command of some hero, who was once 
followed and reverenced as a man, but became, when 
dead, worshipped as a god. In short, the mental 
story of the world is one of inheritance, the ever 
begetting of Force, and not by any means a trans- 
mission of material "gemmules." 

§. 7. The known laws of Force will explain, so 
far as we have investigated, all the phenomena of 
reproduction, whether by fission, gemmation, or sex- 
ual generation. 

In fission the animal is a simple illustration of 
polarity manifested throughout the whole organ- 
ism ; like a magnet, which must reproduce the 



A FEW CASES IN POINT. 89 

whole in all its parts. The animal represents one 
compound animal Force, the sexual cells being in 
contact, and when divided it matters not how often 
each part must reproduce the whole animal. It is 
a simple case of Force inducing like motions in all 
the cells of the animal. The bud of a tree is more 
complex; for each bud is an orginal centre of mo- 
tion, w^hich begets its own like in buds, however 
numerous on the same stem or trunk ; but as they 
are original centers, each center is subject to sepa- 
rate modification, and is only sure to reproduce 
itself in bud form, never from the seed, as the seed 
may be a compound of many forces different from 
the original bud. In sexual reproduction, there is 
a compound or double union of sexes ; two female 
and two male forces, mingled in cell form. These 
forces play upon each other, and represent every 
force in both sexes, at the moment of their mingling. 
These may blend and produce an offspring unlike 
either parent force ; one may entirely neutralize the 
other, and produce nothing; one may shade into 
this, that or the other, producing the mother here, 
the father there ; or they may evoke some latent 
force by the combination. Or, again : the male 
force may be so overpowering, that the offspring 
not only will most resemble him, but the embryo off- 
spring may induce a corresponding reproductive 
force in the mother which will be permanent. The 
sympathy between the embr^^o and the mother, 
must be great; the one more or less impressing the 



90 MATTER AND FORCE. 

other. This must be the seat of permanent chang- 
ing conditions in the offspring, and sometimes may 
be induced in the mother. The embryo represents 
the weaker forces, and hence are the more easily 
conditioned. 

There is a misnomer in the terms male and fe- 
male, as there is in the terms positive and negative. 
They do not represent two forces, but each of them 
one force ; neither is it a difference in the atoms, 
but only a condition of the force, in finite expres- 
sion. Each male and female are both separately 
male and female. The one condition of force pre- 
dominating in one more than the other. So that 
man, for example, is more male than he is female, 
and woman more female than she is male, and by 
this we mean, not really, and in fact, but that each 
has the other sex latent, which under conditions 
may be developed, as is recorded of a certain hen 
after laying and bringing up her brood, assumed the 
whole male dress and disposition, ever after. 

But it is useless to dwell on the application of 
this hypothesis; this we leave for the reader and 
student. We only wish to indicate the principle for 
application hereafter. By applying this principle : 
Force acting on unlike atoms of matter ; Force ever 
begetting like motions therein; its instantaneous 
and irresistable eftects thereon ; its correlation and 
conservation, must not only explain all inheritance, 
but all phenomena of whatever kind. It is the 
union of matter and Force — not matter alone, nor 



FORCE TBE INFimTE UNIT, 91 

Force alone, whicli produces effects, and is the cause 
of all effects. But it is the peculiar function of 
Force to beget its like, and of matter to produce 
variation. For the atom is variable in being, and 
Force is the Infinite Unit 

§. 8. We are now prepared to apply the forego- 
ing principles to Evil, and evolve therein a science 
which will evoke its meaning. But first let us see 
how man is himself an expression of Force. We 
find this in his bodily and mental activities. The 
muscles express bodily force ; the brain, head force. 
These forces lie coiled up in muscle and brain. But 
it is the universal law of Force to express polarity, 
however it ma}^ be divided or cut up. The mental 
force may thus be divided into faculties, and each 
faculty in its functional activity will express polarity. 
Thus we have as purely mental expressions, right 
and wrong, happiness and sorrow, hope and despair, 
love and hatred, knowledge and ignorance. These 
are correlative terms, and each pair expresses one 
force. The one brings the other as a necessary con- 
sequence ; the one implies the other, as the positive 
pole of a magnet implies its negative pole. But 
either pole may act — nay, both poles must act. 
These may be converted, the one into the other in 
action, as right may be pushed into wrong, happi- 
ness into sorrow, hope into despair, love into hatred; 
nay, knowledge into ignorance, when expressing 
feeling. It is perhaps true that the wisest feel the 



92 MATTER AND FORCE. 

most ignorant. There is no hatred or jealousy 
which has not a love basis. Those who love the most 
can hate the most. Those who can pray the most 
fervently, can curse the most bitterly. The purest 
can be the vilest. This law of polarity forces itself 
upon us everywhere and at all times. It is thus we 
speak of pain and pleasure, virtue and vice, heat 
and cold — in short, good and evil, only as opposites, 
and cannot conceive of the one only as in contrast 
mth the other. The animal and vegetable world 
we distinguish as male and female. We speak also 
of the centripetal and centrifugal forces, action and 
reaction, and that antagonism which is everywhere 
prominent in Nature. By all this we only mean the 
polarit}^ of Force. In a theological point of view, 
we see the same manifest polarity in God and the 
Devil. People taking a purely personal view of 
Force in Nature, have projected the one pole on the 
infinite background and called it God, and the 
other in the same way has been called the Devil. 
All of Avhich results from the inherent and neces- 
sary antagonism expressed in the atomic forces of 
which a body is made up. Wherever there is a 
center of force there must be polarity expressed, or 
there could be no force. To find the polarity is to 
disturb the force. In fact, we can learn nothing of 
Force only from its disturbance. 

We have then as the expression of the universe : 

The Infinite Force and the finite atom. 

The Perfect and the imperfect. 

The Unity and the diversity. 



SOME CONCLUSIONS. 93 

The above duality leads to the following conclu- 
sions : The infinite whole is made up of its finite parts. 
Nature is one divisible unlimited whole. The Infi- 
nite could not exist without its finite parts. The 
Infinite universe of matter is absolutely dependent 
on each one of its atoms. If one atom could be des- 
troyed the whole could. So of the Infinite force ; 
it is made up of finite forces, because of the variable 
atom; and the Infinite could not exist without each 
finite force. If the smallest possible force could be 
destroyed the whole could. If the force which 
evolves the thought of a mosquito could be once des- 
troyed, and the thought lost, so also could Infinite 
Force, and Infinite intelligence be blotted out. As 
no particle of dust can be lost, so also, no thought 
can be lost from out the universe. But the mos- 
quito's thought is an imperfect one, because finite. 
The mosquito doubtless acts amiss quite often in 
the sphere of its own operations. We say then of 
each mosquito it is finite, imperfect, and different 
from all things else. Yet the Infinite and Perfect 
Unity, could not exist without this finite and imper- 
fect diversity. 



CHAPTER y. 

THE ORIGIN OF MORALS AND SCIENCE. 

§. 1. The first command given to the animal 
was ACT. This was compulsory and arbitrary. To 
make the animal act it is first constructed to act, 
and then fi)rced into action by being acted upon. 
This beautifully illustrates the play of forces, their 
correlation and persistence. The creative forces we 
have discussed elsewhere, and we will now treat only 
of the active animal. 

We will suppose that when Nature had formed 
her animal and enlivened it with sensation, she 
spoke and said: "ISTow my little animal act." To 
whom the little animal responded : "No, mother, I 
like rest, I shall obey Statics rather than Dynam- 
ics." Here is the first disobedience so often ex- 
pressed in the world. Nature then responds : "But 
I will compel you to act." She then breathes into 
its nostrils the breath of life. In rushes the foe to 
its organism oxygen gas. This begins to tear down 
its body, burning and consuming the structure. 



THE GENESIS OF ACTION. 95 

Sensation now cries out, "Supply your loss." This 
is known by the animal saying to Nature: "Mother, 
I am hungry." Ah!" says Nature, "I told you I 
would make you act." "How pitiless and cruel you 
are," says the animal, "why can't you just as well 
feed me and let me rest." "I know no rest," says 
Nature, "neither shall any of my children." "But 
why torture me with hunger, have you no sympa- 
thy, no love for your child?" " Much indeed; I have 
provided what I think necessary," responds Nature. 
"But you would sleep always, and be nothing in the 
universe did I not tortijre you while in the embrace 
of Statics. I have sent Dynamics into every cell of 
your body to war against Statics. When Dynam- 
ics overpower Statics, then you will obey me; for I 
always act." "But, mother, how shall I act? " "Ah ! 
that is a great moral question," responds Nature, 
"which I shall never discuss with you nor enlighten 
you upon till you acV^ To whom the animal re- 
sponds, "This is adding insult to injury, cruelty is 
no name for this. You are burning me up with 
oxygen and will not tell me how to extinguish the 
flame." "Fool!" says Nature, "I have but one 
way to teach you. This flame shall never be ex- 
tinguished while an animal lives. I will make 
hunger gnaw at your vitals and thus drive you into 
the jaws of Death, or into paths of wisdom. All you 
can do at most is to add fuel to the fire, for a few 
years or hours ; but so long as you gather fuel fast 
enough to feed the flame, and act wisely, I will tem- 



96 ORIGIN OF MORALS AND SCIENCE. 

porarily suspend the pain of Hunger. I shall drive 
you out of your garden of Rest, and guard the gate 
with a flaming sword, that you may never enter 
therein. You shall never eat of the tree of knowl- 
edge but with pain." And the animal with a desire 
to live, goes out with Nature's blessing pronounced 
upon it. "Do or die." This has often been pro- 
nounced a curse by theological teachers. Mature 
has driven it out hungry and ignorant. But is there 
any relation between Hunger and Ignorance ? Hun- 
ger is a physical active force, purely dynamical. 
Ignorance is a mental state. It is mind at rest. 
Force asleep : Statics. But Hunger is a sensation ; 
the effect of Force acting on matter ; the first con- 
scious thought of animal life. Thought is then not 
a force ; it is not mind ; but an effect of Force acting 
on matter. Thought we make universal, and spe- 
cial. The former is any effect of Force acting on 
matter; the latter is conscious in the individual. 
In the universal sense thought is stamped upon 
the face of IS'ature. J^ature talks; she has voice 
and motion ; an articulate and silent language. The 
landscape which the eye gathers in, is thought salut- 
ing thought; the me calling to the not me ; the echo 
of a god-thought beyond and without, back to the 
conscious thought of man within. The world we 
tread is a thought of the Infinite Force. The ver- 
dure of Spring ; the gorgeous Summer ; the sear 
and yellow Autumn; Winter with its fleece of polar 
ice and snow, are yearly fractions of the universal 



THE CAUSE OF ANIMAL MOTION. 97 

thought earthward. The longest life of mau is but 
a thought of God raceward. And how like the two 
thoughts are, the year and the life of man ; the 
Spring time of youth, its tenderness and verdure ; 
the Summer with its strength and fullness and 
honor; the Autumn storing up the fruits of labor; 
and Winter bringing the winding sheet of death. 

That sensation precedes hunger we do not doubt. 
Sensation is the speech of a disturbed organism, and 
tells of waste. It is common to all animals and 
some plants, but just where it passes into conscious- 
ness it is impossible to tell. Perhaps when food 
has to be obtained by locomotion or slight move- 
ment of parts. The plant expresses rest rather than 
motion ; as a whole it is in a statical condition, yet 
not entirely so ; as the animal expresses motion, yet 
not constant. In other words, Statics preponderates 
in the plant, Dynamics in the animal. And it is 
necessary that the plant should not feel pain, and 
that the animal should. For the plant is a mechanism 
of construction; whereas the animal is a mechan- 
ism of reduction : the plant supplies oxygen to the 
atmosphere ; the animal withdraws it from the air ; 
the plant deoxidizes, the animal oxidizes ; and thus 
the former absorbs heat and electricity, while the 
latter produces both; and hence motion is neces- 
sary in the latter and unnecessary in the former. 
In other words, pain must move the animal that it 
may hve. This is only another illustration of the 
unity and conservation of Force. It would be an 
H 



98 ORIGIN OF MORALS AND SCIENCE. 

unwarrantable assertion, however, to say all plants 
are devoid of all conscious ttLOught. It is, how- 
ever, asserted by many that no animal has thought 
but man. This is by confounding thought with a 
high expression of mind. But when we consider 
mind as mental force, thought is only the effect, the 
record of the action of this force, and may be con- 
scious or not. Consciousness is secondary mental 
force; the image, as it were, of an active force 
which it itself beholds, as a man looking at himself 
in a mirror. If this image be retained, it is expe- 
rience ; and man reads in his experience the record 
of conscious sensations only as images of effects of 
active force on matter. 

Unconscious force is that which acts without re- 
flecting its effect upcn itself. This may be either a 
material or mental force, which acts unconsciously ; 
as in sleep there must be unconscious mental 
thought. But a purely material force is always un- 
conscious, as the steam which pushes the piston rod 
in an engine. That is, it is unconscious to self, but 
may not be to other forces with which it is connected, 
as the engineer. In this manner it is easy to see 
how Infinite Consciousness may be an attribute 
of Infinite Force, made up of its finite conscious 
and unconscious parts. Each man who is capable 
of affirming consciousness of himself, and that he is 
only a part of a posited whole, must come to a con- 
clusion that consciousness is an attribute of the 
whole. But if consciousness exists as a high or 



ORIGIN OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS. 99 

complex phase of force, as force it can never be 
lost; it may be counteracted for a time, and so 
sleep or rest unconscious, but can be evoked again ; 
not only may be, but perhaps must be. 

§. 2. But hunger we have said is the first con- 
scious thought, and is one of sensation, and that 
sensation pain. But we have just stated that there 
is a great antagonism between the animal and veg 
etable forces. Taking a broader and more compre- 
hensive view, . we will see that the animal and 
vegetable kingdoms illustrate the action of but one 
force, in its positive and negative expressions, and 
may be illustrated by placing the two poles of a 
galvanic battery in water ; the one will liberate 
oxygen, the other hydrogen, in definite ratio. It is 
thus by electrolysis we have the elements divided 
into their antagonistic or opposite states. In the 
animal we see the play of the positive part of the 
force predominating, and in the plant the negative. 
It thus also becomes evident that there is not only 
a relation between the animal and vegetable, but 
that the one implies the other, in origin as well as 
subsequent development, as they are but different 
expressions of the same force. E'ow, when the 
animal first said, " I am hungry," it only told that 
the force positive was predominating in it, sufficient 
to produce motion in its parts to supply the waste. 
That is, it becomes a self-acting force, capable of 
connecting the circuit between the vegetable and 



100 ORIGIN OF MORALS AND SCIENCE. 

the animal, or connecting the positive and negative 
poles of this force. The break produces hunger ; 
the connection satisfies. That is, when the animal 
is hungry it lacks food ; but all food comes from 
the vegetable world. Hunger is therefore true, 
unmistakable speech, and may be illustrated by the 
telegraph. It is by a break, or combination of 
breaks, in the passage of the electric force, to com- 
plete its circuit, which constitute the words in tele- 
graphy. Without these breaks there could be no 
speech. Well, I^ature talks to her little animal in 
just the same manner, precisely on the principle of 
the telegraph. She breaks the circuit between it 
and the vegetable, and this break is the first sensa- 
tion, called hunger. 

§. 3. But now see what is the result. The first 
sensation is the first knowledge. It is the first blow 
given upon the head of sleeping Ignorance. Obliv- 
ious, negative, statical Ignorance is now disturbed ; 
a few more blows awakens him, a greater number 
makes him complain, a still greater number moves 
him. That is, the animal is moved to search for 
food only through pain. How otherwise could it 
be moved to act ? ISTo one can imagine or guess. 
It had refused to act because held tightly in the 
arms of Eest, perfectly enamored of Statics, a 
senseless, unfeeling thing. The only way was to 
disturb it; to breathe into it the foe to its organism ; 
to make it writhe with pain ; to inaugurate Evil as 



ORIGIN OF MORALS. 101 

a fact of its life. Here is the positive, the moving 
force. But where is the negative pole ? How 
beautifully this manifests itself Did not the little 
animal ask, when commanded to act, " But how, 
mother?" Here is the birth of morality, which 
comprehends knowledge. The world's morals are 
all bound up in that little word "- how." It com- 
prehends the word "ought." The "ought" is 
partial, and dimly visible to the scientific moralist ; 
the "how" expresses all. "Mother, how shall I 
act ?" What sympathy arises for the hungry, ig^LO- 
rant animal, asking that question to a parent, who 
responds : " I shall not tell you till you act." Here 
is the birth of sympathy. It goes forth in igno- 
rance, driven by Pain, to find out not so much how 
to do, but what to eat. But the one implies the 
other. (We will not stop here to trace the animal 
in a developental sense, in which it is necessary 
that it should obtain food without locomotion, 
brought to it by currents of air or water, and then 
that the first locomotion must be in a buoyant fluid 
before land life, but pass to consider it only in a 
mental sense; and we will take the land animal, 
man, for the illustration.) If food is not immedi- 
ately at his mouth, movement becomes necessary. 
But the first movement is accompanied with a fall, 
perhaps ; the fall with another source of pain. 
Here he cries out " how ?" How does Mother 
Nature tell him how ? First she has tortured him 
into action, and then she begins a process of tor- 



102 ORIGIN OF MORALS AND SCIENCE. 

turing to teach Mm how to act. " Step on this 
thorn and suffer ; this will learn you to provide 
against it," expresses the whole command of life, 
from the cradle to the grave. Here we are driven 
to conclude that knowledge, as well as morals, are 
born of Evil. And it is because ]S"ature withholds 
knowledge till it is obtained in the experience of 
Pain, yet compels us to seek it, that the questions 
how and why are asked ; and the fear of pain is 
the beginning of wisdom as well as of morals. 

§. 4. The l!Tecessity of life compels us to act. 
This is force compulsory ; we cannot evade it, change 
it, nor annul it. But Moral law is one of restraint. 
This is force discretionary. We may change, evade 
or annul it, till the how is obtained. It is one of 
trial and experiment. It only says, " Do nothing 
that you know to be wrong." It could not say 
more. It is negative, the force of restraint, and 
born of Evil ; as is the command " Do or die !" on 
the other hand, positive — the force which impels 
onward — also born of Evil. And thus we return 
again to the one force of Evil, with its positive and 
negative expressions. 

§. 5. But force must express itself. This we 
call its language. The meaning of Force is both 
moral and scientific. The word " how " expresses 
moral action; the word "why" expresses science. 
'''How shall we act for our own good ?" is the ever- 



LAW OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND. 103 

repeated question of morals. " Why is this so ?" 
is the ever-repeated question of Science. Morality, 
then, comes first, and applies to the individual force. 
Science comes later, and applies to the universal ; 
and thus many may learn the moral of life long 
before they can comprehend its science. The law 
of morals, in fact, runs far down into the animal 
world ; but doubtless few of the lower animals have 
ever asked " why ?" And the question : " What is 
the cause ?" is perhaps confined to but few men. 
The question " How ?" is the incipient reason — ^the 
half-born question "Why?" — which may develop 
into " What is the cause V Science is, therefore, 
preceded by Morality, and must be born of Theol- 
ogy, as will be fully shown hereafter. 

§. 6. But Hunger, which is waste in the animal, 
evolves a universal law ; or, rather, is a partial ex- 
pression of such, namely : Waste must be restored, 
or what is consumed must be supplied. It is the 
law of Supply and Demand. This is plainly a polar 
force. Waste creates a demand ; the demand calls 
for a supply. The waste is always accompanied 
with pain, the supply with pleasure. But first there 
must be Pain from Waste. But Pain is only the 
cry of Waste for more materials, and when the 
supply comes there is feasting, and merriment, and 
joy. How beautifully this illustrates every joy of 
life, every blessing, every pleasure, on the one 
hand, and every sorrow, every curse, every pain, 



104 ORIGIN OF MORALS AND SCIENCE. 

on tlie other. With loss comes sorrow ; with gain 
comes joy. When a child is born there is rejoicing; 
when it dies there is sorrow. And why ? Birth 
and Death are opposite poles of Life. The one ex- 
presses waste, the other supply. It is the same law 
of Demand and Supply. Pain and Pleasure, then, 
are the two poles of this force, which expresses the 
law of Demand and Supply, and it is Pain which 
precedes Pleasure. It is the antecedent, the cause, 
and expresses the positive pole. And thus it must 
be concluded there is no pleasure in this world or 
the universe that does not come primarily in this 
way. All our pleasures lie superimposed upon 
pain, as the finer and softer earths lie superimposed 
upon their granite bed, and this upon the central 
fire. In fact, no one can trace back any pleasure of 
his own experience without finding some waste, 
some loss, some pain, for a starting point. The 
first sensation of the child when it comes into the 
world is pain. If we can judge anything from the 
actions of children, we must draw this conclusion. 
With the first breath is a cry. In rushes the foe, 
oxygen, to disturb the sleeping, statical lump of 
flesh which had been built up from other sources 
than that one which would ever force it to act. 
Till it breathed it was like the plant, unconscious. 
The cry was the echo of the first sensation, and 
doubtless conscious, but too feebly registered to be 
long retained, and so lost to memory. Memory is 
only a process of reading mental impressions, re- 



MENTAL FACULTIES EVOLVED. 105 

tained in the brain, wliicli often, by injury, may be 
completely destroyed. Even tbe school education 
of a person has been obliterated by a blow, and 
when healed he had to relearn everything from the 
alphabet up. 

§. 7. We will now readily understand how 
sensation will produce a mental faculty. Here we 
must define, but to define we must trace the origin 
of a faculty. Hunger, we have endeavored to show, 
is the first sensation, which means action and knowl- 
edge. But action involves the "How?" and the 
"Why ?" as well as the Demand for Supply. How 
many faculties are included in these three words, 
How, Why, and Supply ? Let us answer this ques- 
tion before we proceed to consider whether or not 
hunger would create them, and how it is a child is 
born with faculties before it experiences a sensation. 
We care not how many separate faculties may be 
attributed to man or how few to other animals, they 
may all come within his Intellectual, Moral, and 
Selfish nature. We wish to make the analysis 
apply to all animals, and we have thus used terms 
to suit all classifications. But "How?" expresses 
all sympathy and morality, as we have already seen, 
and "Why?" expresses all science and knowledge; 
and "Supply" generalizes every selfish desire, even 
our hunger and thirst after knowledge, righteous- 
ness, and future life. These three words all arise 
in the same fundamental cause ; the result of one 
force Hunger, with the ever accompanying polarity. 



106 ORIGIN OF MORALS AND SCIENCE. 

conflict and antagonism. " ITow, my little animal, 
act !" " 1^0, for Eest has bound me." " But I will 
compel you!" ^N'ow Waste enters upon its work, 
and the animal cries out in pain, "How ?" and after- 
wards "Why ?" We will briefly illustrate. 

It is said man has acquisitiveness. Why so ? To 
supply waste in the system. How caused? By 
primary sensation. And so has come those facul- 
ties, his love of food and property. But obstacles 
oppose him on every hand ; he has to meet with 
difficulties and dangers; his food grows high and 
he cannot reach it ; low in the earth and he has to 
dig for it ; or in some place unknown to him and 
he has to search for it ; and if not obtained in sea- 
son he finds it is destroyed. Here are called into 
play new forces. To obtain food he finds life a 
battle; a continual war with the elements, and 
seemingly all IS'ature. He has to combat and de- 
stroy, step cautiously and secrete. And he evolves 
here the most selfish of his faculties, and writes 
over against them an " instinct ^^ called the first law 
of life, ''Self Preservation^^ But again: another 
effect of the game law of Demand and Supply not 
coming from waste among atoms in the individual 
body, but from waste in the race, by death, gives 
rise to an irresistible passion to multiply. That is. 
Death implies birth. Here arise those faculties 
which imply the union of the sexes and the care of 
offspring. They are the result of an irresistible 
force, with its polarity of death and birth. 



NUW THEORY OF POPULATION. 107 

The author of a "JS'ew Theory of Population," 
has called attention to a remarkable feature of this 
law of Demand and Supply ; namely, that the forces 
destructive and the forces preservative perpetually 
tend toward equilibrium, and vary inversely. That 
is, the lower the organism and the less capable of 
providing the means of subsistence, the greater the 
power of reproduction. This he amply illustrates 
from the vegetable and animal kingdoms. Begin- 
ning with the microscopic Infusoria in which the 
rate of multiplication is beyond compute, we find 
a constant ratio of decrease as we ascend in the 
animal world, till we come to man and the ele- 
phant, in which it is the least. From this law he 
concludes that eventually the rate of multiplication 
will be just equal to the rate of mortality. That is, 
the approach to equilibrium will never cease until 
on the average, each pair bring to maturity but two 
children. This is a view which all perfectionists 
must take. Those who believe that a perfect law 
can be given to man and that he will eventually be 
enabled to obey it, are logically driven to the above 
conclusion. But the question arises right here : 
Can man ever have the 'power on earth to prevent 
all the accidents to matter and man, or will he ever 
acquire suflicient knowledge to shun them by men- 
tal contrivance ? It is quite obvious he must not 
only so perfect himself in science that he can fore- 
tell the " falling of lightning," or a meteoric stone, 
or else have power to control them ; but also this 



108 ORIGIN OF MORALS AND SCIENCE. 

knowledge or power must be made universal among 
mankind, even down to the sucking infant; for how 
is the young child to shun them but by knowledge 
acquired ? or is the universal knowledge to be born 
with the child ? Will the young child unborn be 
assured of the fact, that it will live out its full num- 
ber of years, and that it is so provided for in wis- 
dom that it is impossible for it to die till the day, 
hour and second are fulfilled ? Shall there be no 
quarrel among men, no predaceous animal, no drouth 
or freshet, no railroad accident, no lost mariner of 
sea or air, no earthquake or volcanic eruption, no 
" strong wind," no lion to lie down with the lamb 
in this world ? ]^o rattlesnake, mosquito or fly ; 
no hunger or pain f It would have to result in this 
and far greater perfection. 

ITow, what would be the result of all this per- 
fection ? Perfect satisfaction, the greatest catastro- 
phe to man that could happen. As well open the 
earth at every spot on which a being stood, and let 
the central fire lick him in at once. The only dif- 
ference would be in the means employed to extin- 
guish him. It would be the embrace of death in 
inaction to make man perfectly satisfied. It is 
dissatisfaction which drives every wheel of indus- 
try, provides every mouthful of food, adds to the 
head every increment of knowledge ; and it is dis- 
satisfaction which keeps it there. 

There are two causes which combine to drive 
metaphysicians and moralists into the above fallacy, 



DEFINITION OF A FACULTY. 109 

affirming a limit to tlie perfect, and approaching it 
as a hound would overtake a hare. These are the 
causes of failure shown in their reasonings ; but we 
are of opinion there is the crowning reason lying 
back of and out of which these grow ; the failure 
to comprehend that man is the result of a positive 
and negative force, and, because finite, can never 
be in perfect equilibrium and live. A finite force 
is partial and related to other forces, which may 
control, influence or neutralize, but never destroy it. 

§. 8. Let us now define a faculty, and then 
trace its development in some particular one, for 
a clear exposition of what we mean. 

A faculty is the capacity to receive and reflect a 
definite sensation. The kind of sensation is its 
function, and names the faculty. Sensation is the 
motion of a disturbed organism. The knowledge 
of it is consciousness. For example : the faculty to 
distinguish colors is the capacity to receive impres- 
sions of the coloring ray of light. These impres- 
sions of the ray are the sensation ; the kind of ray 
names the function. It may be said, then, man has 
a faculty of color, the function of which is to dis- 
tinguish colors. But this is only produced by force. 
Intercepted, this force is retained. There is no 
escape for this motion of light; it does not pass 
through the organism, nor is it reflected therefrom. 
The sensation must, therefore, be retained in the 
organism as intercepted force. In other words, the 



110 ORIGIN OF MORALS AND SCIENCE. 

force of sensation becomes latent. This is how a 
faculty may grow, or may be evoked, or transmit- 
ted. A faculty, then, may become an organ of 
force, which, when awakened or excited, must find 
bodily expression and reflect the sensation in con- 
sciousness. Those faculties which arise from the 
motion of light may be called the observing facul- 
ties. The faculty of music must arise from the 
motion of air. We have heretofore indicated how 
hunger will produce the selfish instinct, or those 
faculties which would protect the animal, and how 
Death would lead to the domestic faculties, evolving 
from waste in the body and waste in the race a law 
of Demand and Sujpjply, 

§. 9. We now pass on to debatable ground, to 
see if there be any " intuitive" faculty; that is, one 
which has come in any other way than through 
sensation. Let us take what is known as the " Re- 
ligious faculty." And now, a few words of expla- 
nation before we proceed. 

It is, perhaps, true that the word Eeligion cannot 
be defined, as but very few would agree as to what 
it is. It belongs to that class of words which ex- 
press varying conditions in human affairs, such as 
knowledge, ignorance, morality, etc., and must itself 
change with the ever changing human race. It is 
one of those words which in meaning keep pace 
with man's growth, if not with all animal growth. 
To define Religion by generalizing a certain class of 



NO DEFINITION OF RELIGION. HI 

actions of the most civilized people on earth, into 
one expression, would not be a true definition, any 
more than to generalize a certain class of actions 
common to the most barbarous ; nor could we stop 
here and affirm religion as certain actions common 
to all men, by finding and defining by that which 
was common to all men ; for that which would be 
stricken off from the highest might itself be the 
very essence of the most civilized religion, and what 
would be left after this were taken away would not 
alone remain vdth the lowest type of man, but be 
found common to the ape and dog. To define re- 
ligion by the superior, or inferior limit, is simply to 
affirm the utter failure at definition. To get at the 
truth we must go back to primary sensation ; and 
herein the animal kingdom may not be the limit. 
Definition is here lost. ITor, on the other hand, 
can we stop with the highest type of civilized man. 
We must define so that all religious actions which 
shall come after may come within the definition. 
To define we have to circumscribe and limit. We 
may, however, classify both mentally and physically. 
As man is both a vertebrate and religious animal; 
that is he is possessed of a backbone, with its neural 
and haemal arches, and he performs acts of religion. 
E'ow the vertebral characteristic of the animal is 
quite changeable, and varies widely in the snake 
and man ; and thus also of the religious act. As 
there is a typical relation in the bony structure of 
the two, so there may be in the religious action, 



112 ORIGIN OF MORALS AND SCIENCE. 

differing no more in the mental than in the physi- 
cal. In fact man has done worse things, more hid- 
eous and brutal, in the holy name of religion, than 
it is possible for a rattlesnake to do, owing to its 
inferior development. Just where the animal act 
can be classed as religious, it is difficult to tell, per- 
haps impossible; as no one can tell just where fear 
passes into wonder, nor where wonder rises into 
worship. The religious principle is one of taming 
and domestication, but this only can come through 
intense pain and fear. ^ To tame a wild beast you 
must begin by inflicting the severest pain. This 
produces an inordinate fear. This subsides into 
submission, and may develop e in the offspring that 
faithful, confiding, obedient disposition, so manifest 
in the dog toward his master. The dog worships 
his master, and exhibits a devotion unparalleled by 
man to his god. He often defends his master with 
that ferocity with which Calvin defended his " Triune 
God." He will suffer and die for his master, and if 
the master smites, he crouches down and receives 
the blow with a devotion and submission becoming 
an ancient Christian, whereas he would rend any 
other person who treated him thus. He vnW even 
die worshipping the master, who in his passion slew 
the worshipper. If there is anything different from 
religion as exhibited in man in all this, we fail to 
find it. It is the nature of Force to reveal itself in 
animal consciousness, and having thus revealed 
itself, it compels its own worship. And when the 



WHAT IS RELIGION? 113 

animal acknowledges in action, and assents in reflec- 
tion, to the existence of superior force, that assent 
and acknowledgment makes the animal a religious 
being in thought and deed. This develops into 
reverence — a feeling of inferiority in self — with its 
opposite pole of superiority conferred in other 
beings, or Being. This is worship. The actions 
which [this worship produces is religion. What, 
therefore, is religion in one community, is not in 
another; what was religion in one age, was not in 
another; what is religion to-day, was not yesterday, 
and may not be to-morrow. It cannot be said that 
religion is that endeavor or observance which tends 
to make one better, for religious endeavors and 
observances often make people worse. Eeligion, 
in fact, has been the mighty engine of man's 
greatest cruelty, oppression and wrong. It has 
called human devils the servants of God, and mad 
men saints. The religious sentiment in itself is 
blind; it is an irresistable feeling; an impulse 
which may drive mankind into a lust after God. 
It is the mover of the will, and lies far back of the 
endeavor or observance. The eflTort to make one 
better is the product of Reason. There is design 
in this: it is action founded upon cause and effect. 
But religion is considered rather a duty toward 
God, an observance to please him, and any effect 
which it might have upon the cTmracter of man, 
religion entirely ignores. Should such consideration 
ever enter into religion, it is derived from Reason, 



114 ORIGIN OF MORALS AND SCIENCE. 

and not the blind feeling of the religious faculty. 
The religious faculty is that one which prompts 
man to worship. But this involves the conception 
of a Supreme Being. It is thus the moralist who 
does not discard the word religion, yet who discards 
the popular notions of Deity, finds himself in con- 
flict with the atheist on the one hand and the popular 
theologian on the other. The difficulty rests in the 
fact that Morals and Theology are as separate and 
distinct, as is the opinion of the propriety of certain 
human conduct and the speculations about an un- 
known being. And this is the real distinction 
between Morals and Theology. ^N'ow, religion may 
be considered on the one hand purely theological, 
and on the other hand purely humanitarian ; or it 
may, in the third place, hold an indefinite relation 
to both. There must, therefore, ever be a quarrel 
between Morals and Theology in regard to this 
word religion, till Theology posits the Infinite 
Force and there passes into science. The faculty 
which prompts man to worship would still remain. 
The object of the worship only would be changed. 
Thousands already worship at no other shrine than 
Science. 

§. 10. "We assert that the feeling of fear is the 
primary cause of worship. We T^'ill indicate its 
mode of development, and then trace it in history. 

Before fear there must be something to fear. 
This is pain. Or, in other words, Evil preceds md 



FEAR THE CAUSE OF WORSHIP, 115 

is the cause of Fear. The experience of pain pro- 
duces the anticipation of harm. This anticipation 
of harm is not alone a sentiment of man; it is 
common to all animals, and is almost as necessary 
to life as food. It is the expressed command of 
ITature to the animal: '' Preserve thyself F^ From 
this comes every phase of instinct in the animal, as 
well as the development of far-reaching, provident 
thought in Reason and Genius. It doubtless sprung 
up originally with sensation in the demand for food 
called hunger, with the most inferior animal, and is 
the lowest or first expression of mental force. This 
first sensation must have been anterior to the de- 
velopment of ear, eye, or even a permanent mouth, 
when food might have been taken by absorption. 
Among the small microscopic Polygastric Infusoria 
we find, perhaps, the process by which animal 
mouths were made. The food, coming in contact 
with the body, sinks into it, and is enveloped by 
the surrounding mass closing over it, as a ball of 
tallow would sink into a kettle of soft soap, and be 
finally absorbed. Thus, Motion brought Feeling, 
and Feeling every organ of sense. Air and Sun- 
light brought Ear and Eye. It is said fishes have 
been taken from the Mammoth Cave without even 
the rudiment of an eye. These organs of sense are 
necessary to the body as it passes from the homo- 
geneous mass to the heterogeneous organism. They 
are developed by external agencies, and produce, 
in their turn, mental faculties. 



116 ORIGIN OF MORALS AND SCIENCE. 

The anticipation of harm is perhaps the first 
reflection in the animal, for hfe depends on it. To 
be kept whole it must shun that which would 
destroy it; it must provide against cold and hunger; 
it must provide for and against both internal and 
external conditions. But this implies knowledge 
of its approach to danger ; it implies a knowledge 
of Evil as a fact of life. It matters not what we 
call this knowledge — sensation, instinct, reason, in- 
tuition — it is simply knowledge, no more nor less: 
the effect of Force on Matter; and if intuition exists 
anywhere, it must be in the first sensation, which 
brings its knowledge; the first reflection of itself in 
the animal, which is the first experience. The numer- 
ous animals which sport in a drop of vinegar under 
the solar microscope are found to swim about, 
shunning each other, sporting with and fleeing 
from one another. The spider which weaves its 
web and lies in wait for its prey has the same kind 
of knowledge that the robber exhibits when he strikes 
down his victim in the wood or highway. The 
rabbit which runs from the dog exhibits the same 
kind of knowledge, or anticipation of harm, that 
the man does when he runs from a band of savage 
Indians who are pursuing him for his scalp. The 
cunning of the bear or fox that will spring a trap 
for the meat which is intended to betray them into 
it, by striking it with the paw at right angles to the 
jaws of the trap, exhibit about as much "genius" 
as a man would in like circumstances; and this act 



REASON IK ANIMALS. 117 

will show a process of ratiocination as full and com- 
plete as any abstract reasoning from cause to effect. 
Thought, and reasoning from effect to cause, will 
explain all the complex actions of the animal. 
Without it there is no explanation. Our actions 
themselves negative the assumption that animals 
are solely guided by a force which is not a conscious 
knowledge. The horse and dog receive our caresses. 
If they have no conscious knowledge, and cannot 
appreciate and reciprocate our affection, as well 
caress a stick or stone. The watch-dog at the gate 
bids his master welcome, and the stranger to wait 
outside. The wild habits of animals are lost in 
domestication, whether of man or wolf. Because an 
animal is very small, is no evidence that it has not 
much knowledge. The ant is less than the ele- 
phant, but we have no authority to say the ant 
knows less than the elephant, relative to their own 
plans of operation, any more than the force which 
makes an atom revolve is less than that which keeps 
the earth in its orbit, ^ay, it may be easier to 
destroy the orbital motion of the earth than the 
orbital motion of one of its atoms; and for the 
same reason we have no more authority to affirm a 
mental force less strong when acting in a small 
man than when acting in a large one. The differ- 
ence is only one of condition. We cannot measure 
experience with tape lines, nor gather thought in 
bushels. A very small and delicately organized 
woman of our highest culture, will experience more 



118 ORIGIN OF MORALS AND SCIENCE. 

pain or pleasure in a moment, than a Hottentot 
would in a lifetime; and slie might acquire more 
knowledge of science in a day, than it were possible 
for an Osage Indian to acquire in a lifetime, with 
head and body twice as large. But what has this 
to do with the development of worship ? We shall 
see. 

Wonder and astonishment in man have been pro- 
duced by the experience of unexpected pain. But 
wonder is the incipient reason; it is the half-born 
question: What is the cause? The "why?" is 
involved in it. This is at first connected with pri- 
mary sensations, and doubtless long remained 
closely related to physical pain, the '^how?" gov- 
erning all the animal's activities. Noio, it is very 
easy to see, in a train of causes, that one force must 
beget another, the effect standing as the cause of 
what must follow. But at first this was not so; the 
effect was only studied. This, in fact, was all that 
was thought of, and "How shall I provide for 
myself?" was the all-absorbing question. But when 
the animal said "i wonder ^^^ it became a reasoning 
being: the cause was here conceived. Wonder is, 
then, taken from pure sensations of pain, and may 
be referred to every novelty in nature, from every 
unaccountable effect which is felt to those which 
are observed. Thus fear, which, from the primary 
sensations, was always connected with wonder, and 
doubtless antedated it in animal life thousands of 
years, became at last a constituent element in every 



GENESIS OF THE GOD-THOUGHT. 119 

unaccountable phenomenon; and the question which 
came so early in the development of man's thought, 
and which was born of Wonder: ''What is the 
cause?" was answered in the first mental conception 
of cause by being personified in Being. This Being 
was the "God," the " Wonder- Worker," the "Hid- 
den," the "Spirit of Fire," the "Sun," the "Air;" 
and when man had learned the use of the tool he 
had made, this Being became the " Great Artificer," 
the "Master Builder," and so on in the catalogue of 
names. But it could not be otherwise than that 
this being should be feared, for Fear and Wonder 
are twins of the same birth from the experience of 
unexpected and unaccountable pain. See how natu- 
rally this comes. The child, enlivened with sensa- 
tion, is ushered into the world full of external 
realities. It feels: it knows not the meaning of 
these startling sensations of pain. Even its first 
sensation is pain, and whatever of pleasure that 
shall come after must lie on this bed. It sees: it 
knows not the meaning of these flitting shadows. 
It passes on through that stage, when it only asks 
"How?" till it reflects and asks "Why all this?" 
As the child passes upwards in years, older ones 
cannot answer the question. When grown, he looks 
within, and reflection is bewildered in the strange, 
and hidden, and awful mysteries of life. He seeks 
a cause without, and becomes dizzy treading the 
paths whereunto the imagination leads him. He 
wonders over a wonderful reality, and then names 



120 ORIGIN OF MORALS AND SCIENCE. 

his god " Wonder-Worker/' or " Hidden/' or "Fire." 
But this "hidden" cause must be grasped by the 
senses. It is a real being, and not only feels and acts, 
but must have an abode, a real dwelling. The won- 
der-working god must hide away in objects, and 
reveal himself to man through the senses. And as 
man grows in knowledge, his god flits from object to 
object, ever taking higher forms, passing through 
terrestrial and celestial forms — ever hidden, yet ac- 
tive, till revealed in man himself; thence passing 
into infinite spirit, and thence into Infinite Force. 

History seems to corroborate the above genesis 
of the god-thought. The first names of deity 
which have descended to us in history are those 
which express wonder, concealment, pain and fear. 
Ammon, which means hidden, is an old Egyptian 
god. Jupiter, a very modern god, always concealed 
himself and dwelt in the highest and most inacces- 
sible parts of the earth. Jehovah never permitted 
himself to be seen, save in part, by the specially 
chosen medium of his commandments to man. 
Thus has come the saying: "I*To man can see Grod 
and live." To see God would be, it was thought, 
a fearful and most calamitous sight. 

We affirm there can be no worship without some 
hidden and mysterious object to contemplate, and 
to search after with feelings of awe. Even the 
worshipers of Science exhibit a devotion worthy of 
a Moslem or ancient Christian. That the world's 
first worship came through fear is but an historic 



THE FIRE WORSHIPER. 121 

generalization. The early bibles of tlie world com- 
mand the people to fear Grod; and as the first 
worship was Fetichism — the worship of a god in a 
thing, which the senses could grasp — stone, fire, 
sun or animal which contained the hidden "Won- 
der-Worker," those things themselves became sacred 
and objects of fear. When we study the history of 
the barbarous races of the world at the present 
time, we find fear the ruling element in their wor- 
ship. It is fear which causes the tiger to be wor- 
shiped in many parts of the Old World. In 
Sumatra the people will not kill it, though it 
commits frightful ravages. It is fear which makes 
the inhabitants of Kamstchatka and Siberia pay 
reverential respect to bears. It is fear which calls 
forth the priest in Abyssinia to pray over the skin 
of a hyena, and to thus exorcise the enchanter 
within it. It is fear which prostrates the Guebre 
of Persia before the fire on its altar. 

In the worship of fire there is a prominent re- 
ligious fact which runs far back into the history of 
man. The Guebres affirm Zoroaster brought fire 
from heaven, and they keep it continually burning 
in temples erected to the one god. The Sun they 
affirm is his eye. The Ancient Druids also wor- 
shiped the fire, and like the Guebres, they had no 
idols, but the human sacrifice often ascended in the 
flame. They had two yearly festivals of fire, the 
one in May, " The fire of God," and the other in 
November, " The fire of Peace." But these festi- 



122 ORIGIN OF MORALS AND SCIENCE. 

vals of fire were perhaps in honor of the Sun. 
That fire should have been worshiped is most 
natural and evident from the genesis of the god- 
thought. There is the unaccountable thing called 
fire. It is a subtile foe, or a warming, cheering 
friend. To the untutored mind it is an object of 
fear as well as pain. The Hidden cause is the Be- 
ing of Fire. And this Being becomes at once an 
object of worship. The early mind reached out in 
speculations upon the origin of fire, always reason- 
ing upon some theological hypothesis : for so great 
a blessing must have been bestowed by the god of 
fire, or else the god was really in it. The Grecian 
fable of Prometheus, who, with the aid of Minerva, 
the goddess of wisdom, went up to heaven and 
lighted his torch at the charriot of the Sun, is per- 
haps the finest illustration in point. But if we leave 
the fable to the beauties of that realm whereunto 
the imagination leads, and descend into the region 
more of fact than fancy, we might go back to the 
early time which now lies hid in the unfathomable 
past, and behold the untutored animal, we may give 
the name of man to distinguish him from what is 
still below him in animal life, picking up two 
flints and striking them together. There now 
comes flashing from the lips of those stones, the 
burning words of Force, — " This is the revelation of 
fire to thee, oh, man! " He drops them in amaze- 
ment, and trembling in wonder and fear, falls down 
and worships his god — this god of fire concealed in 



THE GENESIS OF SCIENCE. 123 

the stone. Here is, perhaps, the true Prometheus 
of history. What speculations upon the " Hid- 
den," the "Wonder Worker," the "Spirit of 
Fire," must arise from this simple display of Force ! 
What gods may grow out of it! What oft re- 
peated stories ! What legends of god-man ! What 
poems of history and theology shall descend from 
it! The worship of God in a stone is the most nat- 
ural and irresistable effect of such a display of 
Force, — when there is not that being on earth who 
can give the true hypothesis. This worship ex- 
presses the first hypothesis of science. Without 
this it is impossible for us to imagine how science 
can come to man. Fetichism, the conception of a 
god in a thing, is the first hypothesis to account for 
Force. This is the parent of every subsequent hy- 
pothesis in science ; and without this there would 
be no science to-day. " Why does this fire come 
from the stone ? " asks the untutored savage, little 
dreaming that this question will shoot its fiery rays 
of thought far up through the countless ages, culmi- 
nating in art and science, guiding man's head to 
knowledge, and his hands to comfort. "Why is 
this so ? " asks the savage. It matters not how 
he answers this question — he cannot answer it 
wrong. If he say it is the god acting, the same 
may be said to-day of Force. And if he falls down 
and worships the god, it is only worship paid to 
Science at its birth. 

Is it called superstition ? There are the seeds of 



124 ORIGIN OF MORALS AND SCIENCE, 

science in every belief which rises to the dignity of 
an hypothesis about God ; and time was when they 
were indispensible. The superstitions of the world 
have retained within them the germs of all Science. 
As a walnut, made up of its bitter rind and still 
harder shell will contain and preserve the germ of a 
future tree, so also Superstition has been the rind 
and hard shell which has ever preserved the germs 
of Science, and in which Science has been trans- 
ferred from people to people, and from place to 
place, taking new root in different soils of the world. 
But let us now ascend from Fetichism, taking one 
more step. 

§. 11. Fear made the mother cast her child a 
prey to a beast. Fear bent the necks of men be- 
neath the Juggernaut. Fear kindled the fire 
which consumed the human sacrifice offered to this 
god of Fire ; nay it tore from the hearthstone the 
nearest and dearest to appease the avenging wrath 
of this "Hidden" god. 

We are told in Grecian story how Agamemnon, 
just before departing from Beotia to attack Troy, 
while hunting in the forest, killed a stag which was 
sacred to the goddess Diana. Whereupon the army 
was visited with pestilence. Calchas, a priest who 
stood as mediator between men and the gods, 
thereupon declared that the wrath of the goddess 
could only be appeased by the sacrifice of a virgin 
on her altar — and none but the daughter of the 
offender — ^himself a war-god among the Grecians. 



A HIGHER PHASE OF WORSHIP. 125 

The maiden was brought ; the altar prepared ; the 
priest, with knife in hand, was ready to perform the 
religious rite ; when lo ! Iphigenia, for that was the 
virgin's name, was snatched away by the goddess 
and a hind left in her place. We read a modified 
version of this story in " Jephtha's daughter," and 
in the arm of Abraham being stayed and a ram left 
in the place of Isaac. 

But we may come nearer home than Grecian or 
Hebrew fable, and follow the early religious thought 
of our own forefathers, the early inhabitants of 
Western Europe. The same wild and awful god- 
thought was theirs; the same dread superstition 
hung over the land; the same fear sent them trem- 
bling in the same sacrificial rites before their altars. 
That beautiful poem by Alfred Tennyson, entitled 
The Victim, describes the human sacrifice to the gods 
Thor and Odin, who gave their commands to the 
priest to take the king's nearest and dearest, his 
only son. 

And why was all this ? It was surely a higher 
phase of worship than Fetichism. It is not difiicult 
to tell. Any natural yet unaccountable phenomenon 
was thought to be the work of Deity. But if it 
came like a scourge, as in pestilence, famine or the 
like, it was considered a special visitation. But 
why scourge a people ? Kot knowing that scourges 
obey natural laws, and may be provided against 
as one may provide against hunger, they were 
attributed to the wrath of Deity. To stop the 



126 ORIGIN OF MORALS AND SCIENCE, 

scourge was only to appease Deity. But why offer 
up the nearest and dearest? Because the most 
painful for man to do so. Here is the reasoning, 
and it is just as conclusive as logic can make it. 
If Deity sends pestilence, he must be angry at man. 
But if he sends pestilence because he is angry, he 
delights to see man suffer pain. Therefore, if we 
inflict the most severe pain on ourselves, and tell 
him it is to appease him, he will be delighted in 
seeing us suffer; he will be appeased and stop the 
pestilence. ISTewton's reasoning, which affirmed the 
law of gravity, was no more conclusive than this. 

When theology could be brought to the stern 
logic of human sacrifice, the Eeason of man 
was grappling with First Principles, At this 
stage of man's development. Science was not only 
possible, as in the incipient "why?" of Fetisch 
worship, but it was actual. It had not only taken 
root, it had put forth the shoot. E'othing but to 
destroy all theological speculations could ever root 
it out of man. 

The religion which compels a worshiper to offer 
up his only child to his god is the most sincere. 
That man who can do this is a true worhiper of his 
god. This requires the greatest self-sacrifice, for 
the tie which connects the parent to the child is the 
strongest. At this point Fear culminates, and must 
thereafter forever diminish. But at this point also 
Science is born, in Logic. True mental ratiocina- 
tion shall ever grow therein. This will divide the 



SCIENCE BORN OF THEOLOGY. 127 

one person supreme into many parts, and distribute 
his power. Then will science forever grow. 

Now, it was faith in the Reason of man which 
compelled those early worshipers to offer up the 
human sacrifice. It was by obeying Logic, the 
stern god of the head which brought those evils of 
religion, so prevalent among the early races of the 
world, so common among all races of low develop- 
ment, and so general among mankind everywhere 
when ignorant of the true nature of Force. It is 
Force which has been worshiped throughout the 
ages, whether revealed in stone or book; and when 
perceived by the senses and interrogated by Reason, 
the answer which came back to man as the word of 
God has ever been the conclusion which Logic has 
given him from the premises supplied by the senses, 
when trying to grasp the nature of Force. N'or 
could science have come in any other way than 
through the god-thought. !N"or could it have come 
without those terrible evils which have so afflicted 
the world. Science, in fact, has not only been born 
of Theology, but, like a wayward child, Theology 
has cradled it in affliction, has beaten it at school, 
spurned it from her presence when grown, im- 
mured it in dungeons, and, in the hope of destroy- 
ing it in the world, has often driven its devotees to 
the scaffold or stake. And why must Science be 
thus scourged ? Before we answer this question, let 
us take one more step in the development of the 
world's worship. 



128 ORIGIN OF MORALS AND SCIENCE. 

§. 12. From the worship of the Fire-god which 
spoke out of the stone, perhaps in the age of Stone, 
naturally came the transferring of the god, which 
is only Force, to other objects which are themselves 
active agencies in N^ature. Thus the Sun would be 
truly a Fire-god. The air would be an invisible 
Spirit. Hence the Latin, spiritus, which means air. 
This would give life, for the living breathe it, and 
to be deprived of it is death. Hence it would be 
deemed sacred, and called The Holy Spirit And 
then taking a wider range of thought, this princi- 
ple of Force, which is everywhere manifest, would 
confer upon each department of Nature a presiding 
god or goddess. And we have Grecian theology. 
This is a great advance above Fetichism. It is an 
advance from the simple to the complex. The ho- 
mogeneous mass has now become a heterogeneous 
organism. This must inevitably develop science, 
and to destroy this theological speculation would in- 
deed destroy the science of this people. 

And it is necessary that the god-thought should 
be thus divided to evolve science; for although 
Force is an infinite unit, it only manifests itself 
partially and in a special manner to man. He must 
become acquainted with the simple and special 
manifestations of Force before he can understand 
the complex or grasp the universal. He has to 
build on a foundation of thought older than his 
own, — a foundation strong and suitable, yet rough 
and unhewn : and he can never ascend to the con- 



DAWN OF THE ESTHETIC. 129 

structing architect till he has passed through the 
practical mechanic : he can never be a poet till he 
has been a great sufferer; never a painter till 
he has been a great observer; never an ideal 
thinker till he has been a practical worker. And 
it is when the god-thought passes from the tyranny 
of one idea to the complex conception of many 
gods that a genesis of science is possible, inasmuch 
as this unfetters the mind and renders it less subject 
to the control of Fear. 

From the above conclusion it is easy to see how 
the stern mandate of Logic, which compelled man 
to offer the human sacrifice in obedience to his 
fears, was countermanded in human reason even 
without a knowledge of the true nature of Force, 
or without conferring less revengeful attributes 
upon Deity. See how this came about. 

§. 13. The human sacrifice was superceded by 
the sacrificial beast. Yet man must propitiate the 
god through his fears in this also. 

Among the Grecians the sacrificial beast was 

decorated with flowers, and the person who offered 

the sacrifice wore a garland around his head. Here 

we see the dawn of the esthetic in man's nature, 

for the love of the beautiful is a growth like all 

other emotions, as truly as is knowledge itself. 

Before he begins, he washes his hands in pure 

water, "typical of washing away the sins of the 

soul." As the flowers which adorned his head 
J 



130 ORIGIN OF MORALS AND SCIENCE, 

prophesied the coming fruit, so the water prophe- 
sied the pure man. In fact, the esthetic is only the 
prophesy of the fairer, the purer, the better in the 
world which man feels within him, and he baptizes 
himself with water and the "Spirit of Fire" as 
emblematic of the purer man. He now approaches 
. the altar with his offering. Here he has brought 
the first-born or choicest of his herd or flock. In 
solemn reverence and implicit faith he lifts the head 
of the beast heavenward; he applies the knife to 
the throat, catches the blood in a bowl, and secures 
a sanctification through blood. And why? Because 
the blood was thought to be the life of the animal, 
and he has offered a life to his god. This notion 
was common to all ancient peoples who oftered 
sacrifices to their gods. The legs of the animal 
are inclosed in fat and burnt on the altar with wine 
and incense, and while the savor of the fiesh ascends 
to heaven the ceremony is accompanied with prayer 
and music. 

That wine should be a necessary accompaniment 
in the religious ceremony is by no means devoid of 
meaning. In the early 'times wine was not typical, 
as now; but it was thought to be the real blood of 
a god. Doubtless many of the early Christians 
thought so ; and if not reall}^ so when it came from 
the grape, that the priest had the power to trans- 
form it into the real blood of Christ. But among 
the Grecians the interference of a priest was not 
^ece8sary. Wine was the blood of the grape, and 



FROM THE REAL TO THE TYPICAL. 131 

the vine was the sacred plant of the god Bacchus, 
whose real blood was in the grape. ]!^ow this blood 
came through the direct rays of the Sun-god, warm- 
ing, cheering, beautifying and fructifying the earth. 
Hence, the wine was held sacred because divine in 
its origin and mysterious in its effects. It was most 
natural, therefore, to use it upon religious occasions, 
at first as a real and at last a typical offering. 

This also marks an era in the progress of re- 
ligious ideas. It marks the passage from the real, 
in the sacrificial rite, to the typical. It was adopted 
as that article which most resembled blood or life, 
and at first must have been though to be the real 
blood of life; for it was too bold a step to pass at 
once from the real to that which is only typical. 
But eventually, when the nature of Force became 
more generally understood, and the wonderful and 
miraculous effects of wine became quite natural, 
instead of the blood this wine would become typical 
only of blood. At this point the sacrifice entirely 
disappears, save in the Catholic Christian church, 
where the wine is thought to be changed into the 
real blood of Christ, who offered himself a sacrifice 
for a whole world. But with the Protestant this 
wine is only used as typical. It is thus the sacri- 
ficial child, virgin, man and beast are no longer 
slain nor brought to the altar. This rite passes 
gradually away, culminating in the typical wine. 
Thus we see a gradual ascent from the sacrifice to 
God of the first-born son of the king up to the less 



132 ORIGIN OF MORALS AND SCIENCE. 

favored or esteemed human victim, — to the first of 
the flock or herd, then to any animal which had 
blood, till we come to that which only typifies 
blood, the juice of the grape from the god-plant 
the vine, which is smiled upon by the Sun-god of 
the world. 

In this gradual ascent we see his fears gradually 
giving way, and the finer and higher sentiments 
growing stronger, and influencing the conduct of 
man. 

It is thus the religious world is forever appeasing 
the stern god of the head Logic, by a continual offer- 
ing of the " typical " and " emblematic " sacrifices. It 
must some day see that the whole religious history 
of the world is only typical of Science, and all the 
god-names are only symbols of Force. 

§. 14. As the primitive conception, like all sub- 
sequent conceptions of God, was purely human — 
that is, conferring human attributes — it was a most 
natural and easy step from Fetichism to make man 
a god. This doubtless first transpired in connec- 
tion with some man — a leader, a brave or strong 
man — who could perform physical feats beyond the 
ordinary powers of man; for Force, it must be kept 
in mind, it is that is worshiped, whether it be of 
head or hand. He thus became the hero, who was 
looked up to by those who knew him ; was followed 
and feared, and when dead worshiped. He became 
the mighty man of the chase or battle; when he 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM. 133 

dies he only goes away to return again, and the 
funeral ceremony became a religious rite. His 
memory would be held sacred, and after genera- 
tions, hearing the story from parental lips, would 
magnify his powers and works, till at last the story 
of a wonder-working god, with name and history, 
descends to the world. The name of the gods 
would thus become " The Strong," " The Mighty in 
Battle," "The Man of "War," "The Destroyer." 
The attributes of savage natures would be conferred 
in the assertions: "Vengeance is mine," "Blood 
cryeth from the ground," " I will rejoice to destroy 
you." Even the ancient Scandinavians conferred 
upon their gods the "sacred duty of blood re- 
venge." Jupiter was the father of gods and men, 
the great Thunderer who dealt out the lightning to 
suit his fancy. This was his weapon and the symbol 
of his strength. Mars drives his chariot of war, 
and Apollo his chariot of the sun. Vulcan is the 
great artificer of heaven, and Mercury its swift- 
winged messenger. Hercules performs physical 
prodigies, and is honored with a seat among the 
gods. The ocean has its ]^eptune, and the central 
fire its Pluto. Thus the Grecians gave to each 
department of Nature a presiding god or goddess ; 
but these gods were only mighty men. 

The same anthropomorphitic notion is seen in 
all early theology, both East and West. For ex- 
ample, we read in Genesis how the sons of God 
saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and 



134 ORIGIN OF MORALS AND SCIENCE. 

from this was born a race of giants ; but the Teu- 
tonic version is, that the marriage was between the 
daughters of the gods and the sons of men, which 
produced the strong men of the world. Pluto says 
the Etheopians represent their gods with flat noses 
and black complexions, while the Thracians give 
them blue eyes and ruddy complexions. The l^orth 
American Indian has a great Indian for a god. And 
thus it has ever been; men project their own image 
on the infinite back-ground, and worship it as god. 
That is. Force is taken as the god; the attributes of 
the god are only those of men. Perhaps the true 
method of the genesis of the god-thought may be 
summed up as follows : The Promethean savage of 
the age anterior to the Stone, struck fire from two 
flints, which he fell down and worshiped as his god; 
and in after ages, for his discovery, became a god 
himself, who has been honored in many a fiery name 
and feast of flame. From these two things came 
the world's worship. Fire became the symbol of 
divinity. Its festivals have been many a time hon- 
ored from of old; the objects it represented man- 
ifold, — from sun and moon, and fire of earth, to the 
red blood of man and beast, — appearing at last in 
the blood of the vine, the intoxicating beverage of 
the gods, and symbol of the blood of God to-day. 

In all this progress through the countless ages 
of worship, from Fetichism to Symbolism, it is quite 
obvious there has nothing been worshiped but 
Force, the highest form of which has the attributes 



WHEN SCIENCE WILL BE ENTHRONED. 135 

of man. But the investigation into the nature of 
Force has evolved Science. The theologic thought 
was only to give Force a Being — to make it a mate- 
rial essence ; and this, again, has been the history 
of Force from Kepler's spirits, who kept the planets 
in their orbits, down to latent fluid heat, or the 
spirits of alcohol. The theologic notion has for- 
ever hugged the idea of Force. But when Science 
affirms the Infinite Force, manifesting itself in each 
atom. Theology must ascent, and posit this as the 
God; for there can be but one Infinite Force. The- 
ology will then have passed into Science, and the 
world's worship will have a transmutation as 
gradual and complete as that of the bloody rite of 
human sacrifice into the harmless sacrament of the 
symbolic wine. In fact, it is when this wine religion 
shall have passed away, that Science shall be en- 
throned. At this juncture it will be the sole office 
of the religious faculty to apply Science to human 
conduct, and evolve from Morals a science of life. 
This might be truly termed a scientific morality, or 
religion. But Theology and Morals are separate 
and distinct. Theology is the incipient science. It 
is the struggle of the Reason to grasp the cause, the 
hidden, the nature of Force under its god names. 
It must pass away with Science. But Morality 
has to do with the conduct of man; and as man 
is a growth with evervarying conditions, it must 
forever remain with man; forever paint its ideals 
of Beauty, and Love, and Wisdom ; forever 



136 ORIGIK OF MORALS AND SCIENCE. 

interrogate Science; forever ask: "How shall I 
escape this evil ?" A true Religion will never come 
until it thus assumes a scientific form. A worship 
of the Universal Force, with no other forms and 
ceremonies than the manipulation and exhibition of 
this Force in finite expression : the lecture room the 
church, and the scientific lecture the Sunday sermon. 

§. 15. !N"or can we escape the god idea in the 
scientific affirmation of Infinite Force, for the fol- 
lowing reasons : 

1. Intelligence is a fact in the universe, because 
exhibited in man. But man is a finite expression of 
Force, mentally, physically, or any way he may be 
viewed. Man is a part, then, of Infinite Force. 
But as man is not the only part of Infinite Force, 
we may reasonably affirm intelligence, in the infi- 
nite other parts. 

2. To deny the existence of Infinite Intelli- 
gence, is simply to deny all human knowledge. 
Infinite Intelligence cannot therefore he denied. But 
the universe manifests power. That is, we know there 
is power in the universe, else it would not be mani- 
fested. But this is simply Force expressing itself — 
literally telling man it is, and he is, and he knoivs it 
is. Now if this does not prove an acting intelligence 
in Nature, both in and outside of man, then nothing 
can ever be proved by human reason. And in fact 
this is above and superior to human reasoning ; it is 
the effect of primary sensation, that which evolves 



INFERENCES ABOUT GOD, 137 

the first knowledge. It is the germ cells of human 
Eeason. The first experience upon which all de- 
duction rests, and where all knowledge begins. 

3. I^ow the ancients called this manifestation 
of power in the world the god or the gods. If 
taken as a unit it was called god, if considered as 
exhibited in each department of nature, the gods. 
And what can we affirm to-day in the light of 
science more consonant with Reason than to say : 
The Infinite Force is intelligent, and is God. 

4. This Infinite Force can only be known by 
man in part. But the part proves the existence of 
the whole. If we know a part of something exists, 
we must affirm the existence of the whole. But the 
power of the universe is manifested upon so large 
and grand a scale, we are lost in the contemplation 
thereof, and to satisfy the ultimate of Reason we 
posit the infinite. This is the absolute idea. But 
all possible conceptions, that is the conferring of at- 
tributes, must forever fail. There is infinity beyond 
all human conceptions. Force is infinitely powerful 
and Intelligent ; this is God. The God of Science. 

5. The above hypothesis must destroy the long 
continued wrangle about "J^ature and God." K 
Nature be considered the display of Force acting on 
matter, the action being regular, necessitated, and 
fixed, this would only be saying God reveals himself 
in matter, through fixed laws. No other hypothesis 
of a perfect God is possible. And what has been 
called the Power of God, in the Universe, is only 



138 ORIGIN OF MORALS AND SCIENCE. 

Force acting on matter. Power of God equals 
Force. Power of God manifesting Mmself in Na- 
ture would read: Force acting on matter. It is 
only necessary to give the Force intelligence to 
make tlie god idea complete. 

6. There is a fallacy afloat, often appearing in 
popular theological discussions, affirming that we 
cannot possibly know anything of God. This may 
have come from an entire misunderstanding of Her- 
bert Spencer when he affirms: "the power which 
the universe manifests is utterly inscrutable." So 
it is; but no one has the right to say, therefore, we 
know nothing of the power of the universe. The 
power which moves an atom of oxygen is utterly 
inscrutable; yet we may affirm many effects of this 
power. The power which evolves conscious thought 
is utterly inscrutable; yet we know thousands of 
things about conscious thought. Force is utterly 
inscrutable; but we can affirm many things of 
Force, and know its modes of operation. The ulti- 
mate atom is utterly inscrutable. IN'obody knows 
anything of an atom of oxygen; cannot tell its 
size, shape, color or motion. Yet, are we compelled 
to say from this that therefore we know nothing 
of its effects? When we try to investigate the 
nature of either Force or Matter — that is, to find 
out what they are — we find them utterly inscrutable. 
Yet they make known their existence in conscious- 
ness. They manifest themselves. We do not make 
them reveal themselves. We do not fix ourselves 



NOT A CTORS B UT RECIPIENTS. 139 

into such a mental condition that we can grasp 
them and know of their existence. We are not the 
actors in this, but the recipients of knowledge. It is 
they who make themselves known. Surely this is 
utterly inscrutable. So that not only the God of 
the universe is not only inscrutable, but so also is 
his revelation in man. 



, CHAPTER VI. 

SOW THEOLOGY EVOLVES SCIENCE. 

§. 1. We are now prepared to indicate tlie 
metliod in wliich Theology evolves Science. "We 
liave heretofore shown that Theology was horn of 
Fear and Wonder; that Pain and Evil must precede 
it. INow, if it can he made apparent that Science 
has a necessary historic relation to Theology, the 
scientific meaning of Evil may he somewhat in- 
ferred. We have also already seen that Grecian 
theology was one of many gods; that difierent 
expressions of Force were represented therein; and 
instead of heing central and unitary, the god- 
thought was thus widely distributed. The legiti- 
mate result of this is, it must destroy the tyranny 
of Fear, which leads to theological control; for 
man may choose the god from among many which 
he is specially to worship. Religious worship he- 
comes thus divided up, and the mind is at liberty 
to speculate upon the manifold operations of Force, Jj 
and thus may assign different causes for the many 
effects which are witnessed therein. 






WARFARE AMONG THE GODS. 141 

Perhaps the first great step towards mental free- 
dom was the notion that the gods faught among 
themselves. This warfare among the gods was 
plainly derived from that antagonism which is 
everywhere prominent in !N"atiire. The forces of 
earth and sky warred against each other; the winds 
and waters and thunders were seemingly in a tumul- 
tuous uproar. Conferring the attributes of men, 
they were subject to anger, and their anger was not 
alone directed against men. There might be differ- 
ent opinions held by the gods, and a division in 
their councils which led to open rebellion. But if 
the gods could hold different opinions, and go to 
war over them, surely men would be justified in 
doing the same. This would open up the way to 
that mental conflict which must ever evolve Truth, 
and which it is impossible to imagine could come 
in any other way. And when this mental conflict 
was conducted in a measure free from death, it 
could only be so defended by an appeal to the con- 
duct of the gods. Polytheism must therefore lead 
to the broadest and most diverse speculations upon 
all the phenomena of ligature. It is not alone sufla.- 
cient to say: '* And there was war in Heaven, and 
one god conquered and ruled ever after with a rod 
of iron;" but the battle must be left undecided. 
The command: "Thou ^halt have no other gods 
before me," if enforced upon a nation must fetter 
the mind and squelch all scientific speculation in 
that people. For, we affirm, theologic speculation 



142 SOW THEOL OGT E VOL YES SCIENCE. 

is only the incipient science, the "why?" being 
there first evolved. We must, therefore, look for 
the greatest advance of science among that people 
whose worship is the most polytheistic, and the least 
advance among that people whose worship is the 
most monotheistic. As examples of these we take 
Grecian and Jewish theology. We will first take 
up the Grecian thought, and see what that accom- 
plished in one department of science. Astronomy, 
hefore we treat of the other and its relation and 
influence on Christian thought. 

§. 2. When Xenophanes, the old Grecian poet, 
went out at night, and looking into the vast depths 
beyond, sang to the stars with low chant and four- 
stringed lyre, he was singing the natal song of As- 
tronomy. Without this song, and poetic frenzy, 
and zeal of a " speculative madman," perhaps the 
science as known to man would not have been. 

This song was a hymn to the god of the stars, 
who directed the throng in infinite space, and who 
was himself the center of all. 

But primarily the germ cells of astronomy lie in 
the first contemplation of the stars. That they 
should have been contemplated is only to say people 
have eyes and must observe; that sight will produce 
sensation and sensation thought; that thought will 
return and reflect its own self and wonder, and then 
ask "Why?" But contemplation alone would not 
answer this question, nor would song bring the 



NUMBER AND EQUALITY DIVINE. 143 

answer. There must be a basis for it to rest on in 
human knowledge, independent of the star or stellar 
phenomena. In its broadest sense that basis is 
Mathematics, which comprises number and equality. 
But this is again only ''Diversity in Unity ^^^ the ever- 
repeated expression of the Universe, the Infinite 
Force acting on divisible matter. 

But IS'umber was at once thought to be divine. 
Pythagoras said: "[N'umber is the Infinite, the sub- 
stance of all things." This was his god. But 
Equality, we have seen, is only a law of Force — its 
undisturbed and definite expression. This is not 
only the basis of mathematics and of mechanics, 
but we may trace it throughout the whole social 
organism — family, church, state — and we will find 
it the basis of all just legislation and government, 
as it is the basis of all reasoning, — the very sub- 
stance of Logic. But this Law of Equality, this 
definite expression of Force, was considered Divine 
also, and a special deity made to rule over it. 

The peculiar phase of Grecian astronomy was 
that of the spherical heavens, which at last materi- 
alized the stars, which had hitherto been considered 
either as real gods or the panoply of the heavenly 
host. The sky, to all appearances, is a concave 
sphere, and to suppose the stars fixed therein, and 
the sphere revolving about the earth, turning upon 
an axis, one pole of which was at or near the north 
star, would make the conception full and complete. 
The origin of this notion outdates history. It per- 



144 SO W TEEOL OGY EVOL YES SCIENCE. 

haps took ages to complete this tliought. The 
Greeks inherited this hypothesis, together with the 
history of the week, the days of which were pre- 
sided over by the sun, moon, and ^yq planetary 
gods.* WTien the course of the sun was traced on 
the concave surface of this revolving sphere, and 
the constellations of the Zodiac named, a step was 
taken in astronomy which insured it to coming ages. 
It was then, as Pliny remarks, that the gates of 
IlTature were opened. Plutarch says, Pythagoras 
was the author of this discovery. This was the fact 
that the sun travels in a circle obliquely situated 
with regard to the circles in which the other stars 
move about the poles. This gave rise to all the 
technical terms used to-day with regard to a globe, — 
pole, axis, equator, tropics, arctic and antarctic cir- 
cles, equinoxial and solsticial points, zodiac, hor- 
izon, — all having local relation to the sphere, its 
circles, and the various movements of the sun and 
stars. 

I:»[ow, see what this led to. It could not have 
been otherwise than that the earth should have been 
pronounced globular. It is said Anaximander, who 
invented the Grecian sun-dial, held the opinion that 
the earth was globular. This was six hundred years 
before the Christian Era. Whether this be so or 
not, we do know that Aristotle, the great logician 
and naturalist, the deepest thinker, closest reasoner, 
the greatest investigator of physical science, the 

* We refer the reader to lecture on "Sunday," p.—, for a liistory of the Week. 



GRECIAN ASTRONOMY. 145 

the brightest star of the Grecian galaxy, believed it 
and taught it. Here is his argument, nineteen hun- 
dred and fifty years before Copernicus repeated it : 
"As to the figure of the earth, it surely must be 
spherical; and, moreover, from the phenomena, ac- 
cording to the sense; for if it were not so the eclipses 
of the moon would not have such sections as they 
have. For in the configuration, in the course of a 
month, the deficient part takes all different shapes: 
it is straight, and concave, and convex; but in 
eclipses it always has the line of division convex. 
Wherefore, since the moon is eclipsed in conse- 
quence of the interposition of the earth, the peri- 
phery of the earth must be the cause of this by 
having a spherical form. And again : from the ap- 
pearance of the stars, it is clear not only that the 
earth is round, but that its size is not very large ; 
for when we make a small removal to the south or 
to the north, the circle of the horizon becomes pal- 
pably different, so that the stars overhead undergo 
a great change in position, and are not the same to 
those who travel to the north and to the south. For 
some stars are seen in Egypt or at Cyprus, but are 
not seen in the countries to the north of these; and 
the stars that in the north are visible while they 
make a complete circuit, there undergo a setting. 
So that from this it is manifest not only that the 
form of the earth is round, but also that it is a part 
of not a very large sphere ; for otherwise the differ- 
ence would not be so obvious to persons making so 



146 SOW THEOLOGY EVOLVES SCIENCE. 

small a change of place. Wherefore we may judge 
that those persons who connect the region in the 
neighborhood of the Pillars of Hercules with that 
towards India, and who assert that in this way the 
sea is one, do not assert things very improbable. 
The mathematicians who try to calculate the meas- 
ure of the circumference make it amount to 400,000 
stadia; whence we collect that the earth is not only 
spherical, but is not large as compared with the 
magnitude of the stars." 

Long before the Christian Era, also, the earth 
was said to revolve on its axis, and also around the 
sun. Upon this point let us transcribe the words of 
Copernicus : " I found in Cicero that Mcetas held 
that the earth was in motion, and in Plutarch I 
found that some others had been of that opinion ; 
and his words I will transcribe, that any one may 
read them : ' Philosophers in general hold that the 
earth is at rest, but Philolaus, the Pythagorean, 
teaches that it moves round the central fire in an 
oblique circle, in the same direction as the sun and 
moon. Heraclides, of Pontus, and Ecphantus, the 
Pythagorean, give the earth a motion, but not a 
motion of translation ; they make it revolve like a 
wheel about its own center from west to east.' " 
We also find that Archimedes states that his con- 
temporary, Aristarchus, of Samos, asserted that the 
earth had not only a yearly motion about the sun, 
but also a diurnal rotation on its axis. That this 
hypothesis existed is further proven from the fact 



ECLIPSES OBJECTS OF FEAR. 147 

that Aristotle argued against it. Ptolemy also ar- 
gued against the diurnal motion of the earth. 
Cicero also believed that Mercury and Yenus re- 
volved about the sun. This surely renders the 
work of Copernicus not the first in discovery, and 
which shows an ancestral foundation on which he 
stood higher and stronger by far than he was aware 
of. These Grecian opinions, however, were only 
entertained by the few, and the astronomical con- 
clusions were that the heavens and earth were 
spherical — the earth the center, and the heavens 
and earth revolving about it. This was the condi- 
tion of astronomical science at the time of Ptolemy, 
who lived in the Second century. 

§.3. As the origin of all worship arose in fear, 
and the sun and moon were considered by the early 
untutored mind to be gods, and especially the sun to 
be a god of fire, the fire having at first caused pain, it 
therefore could not well be otherwise than that any 
unusual occurrence connected with the sun and 
moon should be looked upon with dread. Hence, 
an eclipse was a thing of superstitious fear. This, 
above all things, would be noted and remembered. 

We find at Babylon, nearly four hundred years 
B. C, the Chaldeans had tables of eclipses. And 
the story is perhaps true, that at the time of Alex- 
ander's conquest, the Chaldeans possessed a series of 
observations which went back nineteen hundred 
years, and which Aristotle commanded Callisthenes 



148 SOW THEOLOGY EVOLVES SCIENCE. 

to bring to him in Greece. It was the analytic and 
generalizing head of Aristotle that reasoned so 
well and soundly on these tables. Two hundred 
years after this, Hypparchus took these tables and 
reduced the motion of the moon to rule; and so 
accurate was his deduction, we find Cleomedes, in 
the time of Augustus, saying that " we never see 
an eclipse happen which has not been predicted by 
those who made use of the tables." 

So much for the Grecian thought, and what it 
accomplished in astronomical science. We have 
left unsaid anything about Euclid and Archimedes, 
the mere mention of whose names will suggest to 
the student large fields traversed in mathematics 
and mechanics, by hundreds of deductive heads 
unknown to history, which these two men only 
represent. We will now pass to consider the effect 
of monotheism upon physical science. 

§. 4. From Ptolemy to Copernicus there was 
no advance in astronomy. This is called the sta- 
tionary 'period^ and occupies thirteen hundred and 
fifty years. 

But that there is any such thing as a stationary 
period we may well doubt. The human mind 
seems to have an historic ebb and flow, like the 
ocean, but a stationary period is something not 
known to history. Mankind may not progress in 
some one or many branches of thought, but they 
compensate it in some one or many other directions. 



NO STATIONARY PERIOD. 149 

We are also led to seriously doubt that mankind' 
retrograded in the Middle Ages. There was only 
a warfare against Physical sciences, and more 
especially Astronomy. But this warfare certainly 
strengthened the reasoning faculty of man. If 
Astronomy suffered, Logic gained thereby. Never 
before was the mind so sharp and subtle, as we see 
exhibited in these metaphysical discussions of the 
]L^^eoplatonic School, when even the Yirtues were 
arranged in physical, moral, purificatory, theoretic, 
and theurgic orders. Socrates or Plato could not 
boast of greater analytic or synthetic powers than 
this school exhibited in her Proclus and Plotinus. 
Not even Aristotte could boast of a more logical 
head than we find among Scholastic philosophers of 
after times, when the monastery formed the cradle 
of modern philosophy. 

We find, also, that there were many discoveries 
to be accredited to the so-called stationary period; 
glass, gunpowder, type, the compass, and many 
more, of which gunpowder alone did more to imme- 
diately advance civilization than all the discoveries 
of the ancients; and the mariner's compass not 
only opened up the highways of the ocean, and 
proved the Grecian theory of the earth to be true, 
but it unsealed the lips of thought, which Christ- 
ianity had closed. 

It is impossible that there should have been a 
stationary period. A Dark Age in regard to As- 
tronomy there undoubtedly was, but this was only 



150 SOW THEOL OGY E VOL VJEB SCIENCE. 

the night in which Physical Science slept. When 
it awoke it was refreshed, and arose to gird on the 
armor of experimental battle. As there is uncon- 
scious cerebration while we sleep, so also that force 
which was to evolve Physical Science was active, all 
unconscious though it slept. 

§. 6. What was the cause of the Dark Ages? 
We affirm, it was the theologic spirit of the age, 
which made a central tyranny of the Church. The 
god-thought was not allowed to branch out from the 
Christian Catholic trunk. In fact, the Polytheism 
of the world was called pagan, and so lopped off 
from the religious tree of Christ#ndom. All there 
was of it was a great hollow trunk, trifurcated at 
the top. The hollow trunk was the church in 
which alone the pope presided; the branches were 
Jesus and Mary and Jehovah. It never bore a leaf 
or a flower, much less the fruit of science, save 
Logic, which is the primary necessity of Theology. 
Around the barren trunk the world revolved. All 
minds were stricken down with fear. People were 
compelled to go up to pay tribute to the church ; 
were compelled to acknowledge the Pope as au- 
thority, and were made to swear by tradition under 
penalty of eternal death, which was torment with- 
out end, that outside of this there was no god. 

There was a three-fold tyranny connected with 
this: the Jewish conception of Jehovah, with his 
command : " Thou shalt have no other gods before 



THE CAUSES OF TEE DARK AGES. 151 

me," — the Bible as tlie only and infallible word of 
God, — and the Pope as its only holy and infallible 
interpreter. The carnal Reason of man had there- 
fore to bow to this theologic tyranny. All that 
could possibly be evolved in science from this 
tyranny, was that which comes directly from meta- 
physical speculation. 

The first notion, therefore, was, as soon as 
Christianity became a fixed religion, that physical 
and spiritual things conflicted; that the light and 
transitory things of time must be banished from the 
mind. And so says Eusebius, the great light and 
authority of the church: "It is not through igno- 
rance of these things admired by them, (the natural 
philosophers,) but through contempt of their use- 
less labor that we think little of these matters, 
turning our souls to the exercise of better things." 
And Lactantius, of the same century, the Third, 
pronounces the investigation of physical causes 
''empty and false." He also administered a wither- 
ing rebuke to the cultivators of astronomy, as fol- 
lows : " To search for the causes of natural things ; 
to enquire whether the sun be as large as he seems; 
whether the moon is convex or concave; whether 
the stars are fixed in the sky or float freely in the 
air; of what size and of what material are the 
heavens; whether they be at rest or in motion; 
what is the magnitude of the earth ; on what foun- 
dations it is suspended and balanced, — to dispute 
and conjecture on such matters, is just as if we 



152 SOW THEOLOGY EVOLVES SCIENCE, 

chose to discuss what we think of a city in a remote 
country, of which we never heard but the name." 
This was surely a withering rebuke to the man who 
thought about the ground on which he trod, or about 
the sunbeam which gladdened his eye; and when it 
came as a sort of God's command, it was necessarily 
connected with fear, and must intimidate. 

This Christian divine tries to destroy the Grecian 
hypothesis of the sphericity of the earth by exclaim- 
ing: "Is it possible that man can be so absurd as to 
believe that the crops and trees on the other side of 
the earth hang downwards, and that men there have 
their feet higher than their heads." Saint Augus- 
tin, however, admits the sphericity of the earth, and 
shows how absurd and contemptible the notion is of 
inhabitants on the opposite side, " because no such 
race is recorded by Scripture among the descendants 
of Adam." 

It was in this manner that all astronomical spec- 
ulation was squelched by the early defenders of the 
church. These speculations were considered absurd, 
trifling, impious and detestable, and all those bold 
and true theories which had come from the unfet- 
tered Grecian mind were studiously thrust out as of 
pagan origin and contrary to Scripture. This con- 
quest of the church led to the adoption of a more 
biblical notion, known as the geography of Cosmas, 
who wrote in the Sixth century: " He describes the 
earth as an oblong floor, surrounded by upright 
walls and covered by a vault, below which the 



UNSAFE TO BIBLICAL DOCTRINE. 153 

heavenly bodies perform their revolutions, going 
round a certain high mountain, which occupies the 
northern parts of the earth, and makes night by 
intercepting the light of the sun." This geography 
being deemed Scriptural, was ever after used as a 
mighty engine to demolish the true theories which 
the Grecian mind had wrought out, till the great 
breaking up of this central tyranny of the Catholic 
god-thought by the Protestant Reformation. 

As late as the Eighth century, the heathen the- 
ory of antipodes was not wholly overturned, for 
we find one Virgil, Bishop of Salzburg, not assent- 
ing to the Christian notion that the earth is flat. 
"And it is said when he was reported to Boniface, 
Archbishop of Ments, as holding the existence of 
antipodes, the prelate was shocked at the assump- 
tion, as it seemed to him, of a world of human 
beings out of the reach of the conditions of salva- 
tion." Kepler asserts that he was reported to Pope 
Zachery, and deposed from his bishopric. So you 
see how this notion of the rotundity of the earth 
came at last to be a very unsafe doctrine, as Tosta- 
tus declared it to be about the time Columbus 
sailed. 

ISTow all this is consonant with the steady onward 
progress of thought. The theologic thunderbolt 
was only leveled against the Physical sciences, and 
especially Astronomy, as this was said to be opposed 
to Scriptures; but Thought, in other channels, was 
working out its own salvation. Theologic fear sup- 



154 SOW THEOLOGY EVOLVES SCIElTCE, 

pressed it in one direction, but it only became inten- 
sified in another. "What Astronomy lost, the Reason 
gained. This old Catholic Church had in her womb, 
unconscious to herself, the Luthers and Galileos 
:and ]N^ewtons, who must he born. Theologic fear 
'could intimidate for a while, but it could not curb 
the Almighty and divine m,ental force. The old 
•Catholic Church, with its hollow trunk, in which a 
Pope dwelt and clasped his infallible book, and 
Avith its trifurcated top, without a leaf or fiower, 
st anding there lonely, and black, and grim, the cen- 
tral god-thought of Christendom was by no means 
to be forever barren and fruitless. Though dead at 
the top, it was alive at the root. From these roots 
shot up the liUthers, and Melanchthons, and Brunos 
of the Eeformation. The religious scepter was not 
wrested from the hand of the pope, but new scepters 
were multiplied by breaking the power of the 
Church. The bible was not destroyed, but its 
tyranny wsis destroyed by placing it in the hands of 
the people, who interpreted it according to Reason, 
and whife assenting to its authority, unconsciously 
made it bow to their own judgments. N'either was 
the Christian god-thought destroyed, but the attri- 
butes of the Trinity became multiple and conflict- 
'ing. The "Thus saith the Lord" spoken by Moses, 
which once made all Jewish heads bow to Jehovah, 
and afterwards all Christian heads, when spoken 
'by the infallible pope, came now not as the real 
word directly from a central God, but as an emena- 



REASON AND HISTOR Y A GEEE. 155 

tion thereof reflected tlirough the reason of man. 
This broke the god-thought into as many fragments 
as there were minds to contemplate Force. This is 
a freedom from theological tyranny more perfect 
than Greece could boast. Science is now not only 
possible, it is necessitated. The head is ripe and 
the tyranny of Theological Fear is broken, because 
opinion is divided. Theology must now become 
antagonistic to itself. Having served its purpose, 
which is to evolve Science, it has preserved the 
seeds of death within it, and must die in combating 
itself 

§. 6. I^ow, if the foregoing reasoning be true, 
the Protestant Reformation must precede the estab- 
lishment of modern astronomical science. The 
causes of the reformation had been long at work 
before Luther, and only culminated with him, in 
1517. At this point of time the Catholic Church 
was shattered — the tyranny of the central god- 
thought was broken. Let us now see how and 
when modern astronomy was born. 

After Astronomy had slept for thirteen hundred 
and fifty years, Copernicus took it up, just as it had 
been left by the Grecian mind. It had been pre- 
served in Grecian beauty by the wandering Arabs. 
This science had come on the wings of Speech, in 
her rythmical flight, from the Grecian poet. This 
Grecian song had been translated by the Arab, and 
taken with him in his wanderings. It had thus 



156 SOW THEOLOGY EVOLVES SCIENCE. 

been preserved from contempt and neglect by a 
people unlike those who held the science to be 
" vain and transitory," " contrary to Scripture," and 
"unsafe." Copernicus took it up to see how ^'fool- 
ish^' a thing the Grecian thought had wrought out. 
But this foolish thing begot its own like in his head, 
and as a basis of thousands of years of thought in 
experiments, and records, and investigations, and 
hypotheses, which the barbarians had given him, 
he solved the problem of the motion of the stars. 
The truth staggered him. He bent in fear before 
the yet prevailing creed of Christendom, and for 
thirty-seven years did not dare to publish his dis- 
covery. 'Nor did he dare to open his lips upon this 
discovery for seventeen years, and until Magellan's 
boat, Victoria, had gone round the world. The day 
he died he received a copy of his work, which was 
to make known his discovery, but never opened it. 
This was twenty-six years after Luther shattered the 
Catholic god-thought. 

Till now the Christian world had defaced the 
beauty of the Grecian thought, little dreaming that 
the noblest thought of the Christian I^ew Testament 
had been borrowed therefrom. They tore down the 
Grecian tower of strength, and in the high places of 
scientific truth, where Pythagoras, and Aristotle, and 
Hipparchus had sat, they set up the terrible image 
of Hell and its devils, to frighten all who said there 
were other gods beside Jehovah, and that the Pope 
was not his only infallible priest. Fear smote the 



SOME CONCLUSIONS. 157 

land with a theologic curse, and the dens of idolatry- 
multiplied, as the images of Mary and her Son were 
struck out by the chisel of the artist, who imitated 
the Grecian thought in sculpture, but failed to copy 
the Grecian spirit of Truth. 

This, then, is the order in which Science is 
evolved: First, it must spring from the primary 
conception of Force. This Force is affirmed to be 
the god, and the "why" is involved therein. But 
the question "why?" is the basis of all Science. In 
this first conception of a god it is unitary, and all 
phenomena are attributed to the active god. Wor- 
ship is born of Fear and Pain, and Theology of 
Wonder. But Wonder is the incipient "Why?" 
Of this comes Logic, or true mental ratiocination. 
But Logic is born of Number and Equality, which 
is Diversity in Unity. Force is here divided up, 
and the god-thought becomes multiple. This de- 
stroys the tyranny of Fear, and thus Science is per- 
mitted to grow. 

§. 7. That it is necessary to have the god- 
thought precede Science is quite manifest from the 
fact that the animal loves rest rather than labor and 
activity. He must be driven to toil and to study. 
Mankind are averse to thinking in logical order; 
and while induction is a necessity of sensation, de- 
duction is only produced by the most active incent- 
ives. The love of knowledge in the early race was 
not sufficiently strong to compel any great exertion. 



158 SOW THEOL OGY E VOL VES SCIENCE. 

Evil, myriad shaped — Pain, Hunger, Suffering, 
Death — ^produced Despair and Hope, for Despair 
and Hope are only the two poles of one force. The 
one implies the other, and the one will always pro- 
duce the other. But the Evils of the world which 
tortured the body must produce their counterparts 
in Hope; that looking forward to realize earthly 
happiness, which painted boundless wealth, perfect 
health and perennial youth on the background of 
the Future. It may be said these are vain and illu- 
sory, and produce nothing in science, but serve only 
as theological food to make madmen in the world. 
But will some one tell us how Chemistry could have 
come in any other way ? By these vain and illusory 
hopes, the Alchemist labored night and day, suffer- 
ing all the ills of poverty during life, to wring from 
I^^ature the secrets of her hidden lore. N"ature held 
up to the vision of man no heavenly and angelic lie 
when she showed him a piece of dull lead, in which 
he found some silver and a trace of gold, but he in- 
terpreted the vision falsely. "Ah!" he said, "I 
now have it; I will transmute the lead into gold. 
But what will drive out the evil spirit and retain 
the good in the baser metal? Something, surely; 
let us call it the philosopher's stone.'' And thus the 
Alchemist was driven madly on in search of this 
phantom of the brain. But if the philosopher's 
stone could transmute the baser metals into gold, it 
might transmute pain and disease into pleasure and 
health ; nay, turn old age into youth, and thus be- 



A PHANTOM NECESSAR Y. 159 

come the elixir of life. But it is plain to be seen 
that this doctrine and belief of the Alchemist had 
parentage in the god-thought of earlier times, that 
men were changed into gods, and that the gods had 
power to expel evil spirits, to change water into 
wine, rods into serpents; nay, even people into 
beasts and trees. In further proof of this we cite 
the decree of Henry the YI., of England, who de- 
clared "that the clergy should engage in the search 
for the philosopher's stone, for since they could 
change bread and wine into the body and blood of 
Christ, they must also, by the help of God, succeed 
in transmuting the baser metals into gold." From 
the god-thought we have Astrology and Magic, which 
gave birth to Alchemy ; and in the wild rambles of 
Alchemy we have the first discoveries which laid the 
foundations of Chemistry. And the word gas, so 
often on the lips of the chemist, is only the ghost of 
some ancient god-thought. 

In all this theological speculation, in all this 
rambling after the philosopher's stone, the " Whyf' 
has been forever involved; and in no other way is 
it possible for us to imagine that the question could 
have been asked. And in no other way can we 
imagine that such boundless zeal could have been 
produced save by these theological phantoms of 
the brain. The phantom destroyed Rest, and made 
search compulsory. 

§. 8. But as Theology is the mother of Science, 



160 SOW THEOLOGY EVOLVES SCIENCE. 

it is not at all strange tliat she should scourge her 
wayward child. It has ever been the disposition of 
Theology to assume the highest authority. She has 
ever tried to make all things bow to her. She 
dictates the method of worship as to time, place 
and object. She dispenses temporal and spiritual 
blessings, and makes the necks of king and subject 
to bow at her feet. She rules with a rod of iron, 
and punishes without mercy. She proclaims no law 
without a penalty, and has never been known to 
reprieve an offender. She punishes so long as dis- 
obedience lasts, and holds the culprit with a vice- 
like grip. But in all this Science is begotten in 
her very image, for it is the sole attribute of Force 
to beget its own like. Force personified in the god 
is only Force made real in Science. 

But why, we ask, must Science be scourged? 
That it may gain strength through antagonism. 
Who is it that scourges Science ? Theology; nobody 
else. I^obody else has the right. This she does in 
anger, forever driving Science from her embrace. 
He goes from the house where he has been cradled, 
and learns to live without her. She pursues him in 
vengeance, persecutes and curses him, till large 
enough to master her; and after the first encounter, 
when she is conquered, true motherlike, she imme- 
diately embraces, caresses and blesses him; and 
seeing her child full grown and conqueror of the 
world, she dies and he buries her. This is, perhaps, 
a true allegory of this Mother and Son. 



MAN COMPELLED TO BE ACCURATE. 161 

Any one who has studied the history of the In- 
ductive Sciences must have noticed with what pre- 
cision, care and accuracy its devotees have aimed to 
labor. The Deductive Sciences are in themselves 
accurate and true, but it is not so with those which 
have come from observation and experiment. It is 
therefore necessary to have true observers and nice 
experimenters to establish an inductive truth; or, 
rather, to arrive at truth inductively. Chemistry 
must have no careless and stupid experimenter in 
her laboratory; Geology, no hear-say, caged-up book- 
worm of a cave or monastery ; Astronomy, no blind 
poet to sit and chant to the stars, but practical, 
careful, studious, unwearying men work there; men 
who, when they have discovered a truth, know it, 
and can prove it. Else Theology, who stands by 
scolding for "this trifling waste of time" in the 
philosopher's "contemptible pursuit" after these 
physical things, should he fail, strikes away his 
head, or his freedom, for his impiety, and the world 
has gained nothing. But should he be successful 
and reach the truth, he can well afford to suffer or 
die for it. Thus Bruno was burned at the stake, 
and Galileo imprisoned. This tyranny of Theology 
makes men most cautious in the investigation of 
physical causes. No knowing how many truths 
have been discovered, and have been buried with 
their authors, because of this Theologic tyranny 
which compelled man to be accurate. And thus, 
when Science comes, it is radiant with the glory of 



162 SOW THEOLOGY EVOLVES SCIENCE. 

Truth; and girt about with its own invincible 
strength, it comes to conquor. 

§. 9. Life and truth only come through a holy 
warfare. Force in the universe has a record of a 
great warfare. It wages a continual battle in the 
world. Let us take one illustration: There is a 
simple element in nature called oxygen gas. Its 
action upon organic matter is highly destructive. 
It attacks, in fact, all substances with which it is not 
already combined, with greater or less energy, to 
destroy them ; that is, to change them, or to literally 
burn them up. The oil in a lighted lamp is no more 
consumed in a few hours by oxygen combining with 
the carbon and leaving carbonic acid gas, which 
escapes in the atmosphere, than is the fence nail 
consumed in the same number of years by oxygen 
combining with iron and leaving rust. Both are 
processes of burning up; that is, the force of oxygen 
overpowering carbon and iron. This is the cause, 
also, of animal and vegetable decay. When a tree 
rots and withers away, it is burnt up by oxygen. 
When a person starves to death, he is burnt up by 
oxygen. Thus, also, every organ of the head, and 
every tissue of the body, is being daily and hourly 
consumed by oxygen; and were there no physician 
in nature, no holy oil distilled to supply the loss, the 
lamp of life w^ould soon go out. But we do find a 
holy antagonist in the light of the sun. This wages 
an almost even-handed warfare against this silent 



A CONTINUAL WARFARE IN NATURE. 163 

and invisible demon of death and Evil. And in this 
warfare of Oxygen and Sunlight a divine compensa- 
tion is produced, leaving food, life, health, beauty 
and knowledge on earth. Says Youmans, in speak- 
ing of the Chemistry of the Sunbeam: "We have 
seen that oxygen gas is the foe of organization and 
life, its affinity for the other organic elements being 
such that it perpetually rends them from their com- 
binations, thus inducing constant decay and dissolu- 
tion. We now perceive that the solar rays are the 
great antagonists of oxygen. Under their influence 
the mineral elements are changed to living forms. 
Under the influence of oxygen they are returned 
again to the inorganic world. If oxygen dilapidates, 
they renovate; if that decomposes and breaks down, 
they construct and build up; if that is seen in the 
falling leaf of autumn, they are proclaimed in the 
exuberant foliage and blossoms of spring. If oxy- 
gen is the mainspring of destruction upon the globe, 
wasting, burning, consuming and hastening the dis- 
solution of all things, the solar rays constitute the 
mighty force of counteraction. They reunite the 
dissevered elements, substitute development for 
decay, call forth a glory from desolation, and life 
and beauty from the very bosom of death." 

But the record of this conflict is the exact record 
also of Theology mth Science. Knowledge has a 
record of many facts in the world, and it has only 
come through a holy warfare. If we call Force the 
gods, we have, in the above warfare of Oxygen and 



164 SOW THEOLOGY EVOLVES SCIENCE. 

Sunliglit, a scientific review of all tlie theologic 
fables of the world. The early mind could easily 
perceive a mighty warfare going on between the 
different forces of earth. These forces were called 
gods, spirits, angels of light and darkness, controlled 
by the Powers of heaven and hell. Here we have 
Michael and his angels battling against Satan and 
his angels, which story the Jew borrowed from the 
Persian theology. In this the Persian poet was not 
mistaken as to the great fact of the warfare, but 
only as to its cause, and meaning, and result. 

Homer's Iliad and Milton's Paradise Lost are 
grand epics written to commemorate this Theologic 
warfare. They were both written in honor of Evil ; 
of war in heaven and trouble on earth. They were 
also both written when the tyranny of the god- 
thought was broken; the one when Grecian the- 
ology had emerged from the unitary and central 
god, perhaps of Fire; the other when the Catholic 
Church was shattered. The former was written at 
the dawn of Grecian science; the latter at the dawn 
of modern science. The one was both the requiem 
of Theology and the natal song of Science in Greece, 
the other in Europe. It is thus the causes which lie 
back of and herald great movements and revolu- 
tions in either theology or science ever produce like 
results, because the forces which evolve them are 
ever the same. The causes which gave Greece her 
Homer, and Europe her Milton, were identical and 
the same. The scientific spirit became more inten- 



RESIST OR BE EXTINGUISHED. 165 

sified in Europe, because the mind became more 
liberated from the tyranny and fear of the god- 
thought. 

§. 10. The above is only an illustration in one 
department of nature. But the truth is, Force can 
not act without an exhibition of this antagonism. 
And why ? Because Force ever acts in equal and 
opposite directions. In all its expressions, physi- 
cally, mentally and materially, it exhibits polarity. 
If you raise twenty pounds from the earth, the im- 
pression of your foot in the soil will be twenty 
pounds more perceptible. If you are opposed, re- 
sistance becomes a necessity of that opposition; else 
the opposition will extinguish you. The worm dies 
beneath your tread but the serpent rises up and 
strikes you. If you give, you must have received. 
If weeds grow in your corn, to save the corn you 
must root out the weeds. If disease wars against 
your body, to save your life you must kill the dis- 
ease. If tyranny sits enthroned over a nation, to 
save the people the head of Tyranny must be 
stricken off. If slavery gets rooted into the soil of 
a nation, it will spread till a stronger force destroys 
it. Yice-like ignorance has to be pulled up by the 
roots; this is accompanied by pain and bleeding. 
It is a war of forces, and the stronger will always 
prevail. War is the watchword of I^ature. People 
may cry peace ! peace ! but there will be no peace ; 
for peace is satisfaction and death. 



166 SOW THEOLOGY EVOLVES SCIENCE. 

§. 11. But strength only comes from these op- 
posing forces. Mental and physical strength are 
born of antagonism. 

A celebrated exploit of Hercules, the god of 
strength, so goes the Grecian fable, was his victory 
over Antaeus, the son of the Earth. " Antseus was 
a mighty giant and wrestler, whose strength was 
invincible so long as he remained in contact with 
his mother Earth. He compelled all strangers who 
came to his country to wrestle with him, on con- 
dition if conquered, as they all had hitherto been, 
to be put to death. Hercules encountered him, and 
finding that it was of no avail to throw him, for he 
always arose with renewed strength with every fall, 
he lifted him up from the earth and strangled him 
in mid-air." This fable has more beauties than 
one. It shows what accurate observers the ancients 
were. Physical strength, which is force, was per- 
sonified in the god Hercules, who was not able by 
physical strength alone to subdue the giant who 
had the miraculous gift of increasing strength. 
But mental force came into play in Hercules, who 
discovered the science of Antaeus' strength. With 
this discovery the victory was easy. 

It is thus man learns through experiments which 
fail. He is also like Antaeus a great babe yet, 
drawing nourishment and strength from mother 
Earth. He is just learning to walk, and falling 
often, cries out *-evil! " Yet the fall gives him re- 
newed strength. It is the falling which the world 



SCIENCE EXPLAINS THE ''FALL:' 167 

records as evil, yet it is in this very way and no 
other, that he gains sufficient strength to walk or 
stand erect. Two or three more falls of Antaeus and 
it would have been all over with the mighty powers 
of Hercules. ]N"ow let Hercules represent the god- 
thought and Antaeus Science, and in this case we 
would have had Science prevail; but as it was, 
Theology was yet conqueror. It is in this way also 
all the theological stories of the " Fall of Man" have 
come about. These have been by no means false 
stories ; they have been true allegorical representa- 
tions of Evil in the world. Man called the perfec- 
tion from which he fell only child-like weakness 
and innocence, and the fall those accidents which 
overtook him when he went out in quest of food 
and knowledge. With the food of experience must 
come the knowledge of Good and Evil ; the Moral 
and Science of life ; the ever-repeated how and why. 
See how naturally this comes. It requires an 
active life to learn. How man is urged on by the 
necessities of life! He could not be moved in any 
other way. Hunger is continually gnawing at his 
vitals. Want is continually knocking at his door. 
Hungry children cry for food — if not actually, pros- 
pectively — if parents remain idle. So they work 
with body and mind to provide for the morrow. 
There stands Want, lean and gaunt, the terrible 
ghost of Hunger on the threshold, who says to 
father and mother : " Hie thee out and bring in food 
and raiment; labor and watch, or I will snatch 



168 SOW THEOLOGY EVOLVES SCIENCE. 

away tliy little ones." And sometimes parents wisli 
they could not love so tenderly, lest they be com- 
pelled to sorrow too bitterly. 

"What appears to us the evils of hunger, are at 
last all that would save our lives. "Without hunger 
we would not work; and without work, death. 
"Without Evil, no labor; no active mind; no dis- 
satisfaction; no progress. So it is only a question 
with us: which will we take, the evils of the world, 
or nonentity? And herein there can be no differ- 
ence between what is called physical and moral evil. 
The force which evolves the one also evolves the 
other. As there is no growth of the body vdthout 
the pains of the nerves to compel us to protect it 
against the blind forces which are ever ready to 
destroy it, so there is no moral growth without 
remorse of conscience, without shame and disgust, 
to protect us against those blind forces which are 
ever ready to turn man into a thief, a murderer, a 
child of lust, an idiot, or a devil. To say we can 
progress without Evil is just the same as saying we 
can progress when perfect. 

Evil may, then, be considered to be the means by 
which the Infinite Force of the Universe evolves 
conscious finite intelligence. The same means 
keeps it going, reproduces it, and drives it on to the 
better. This is 'progressive intelligence. The Infinite 
Force is the Power; Evil is the lever which moves 
the Intellectual and Moral World. It begets knowl- 
edge by driving the animal away from ignorance. 



EVIL DRIVES TO ACTIVITY. 169 

This driving away is a process of scourging. With 
knowledge the blessing comes ; yet only partially, 
because knowledge is only acquired in part. Evil 
drives to activity, and Science crowns this Activity. 
Science is the fruit of conscious thought. This is 
rooted in the soil of Ignorance, and is nourished by 
the forces of Evil. We are now prepared to more 
fully illustrate this in our next chapter, on Special 
Evils. 



CHAPTER VII. 

SPECIAL EVIL 8. 

§. 1. Your good neiglibor is stricken down in 
cold blood by tbe band of an assassin ; a bulrglar, 
grateful for cold casb, breaks into a store and takes 
away tbe contents of a safe; Lust lays bis polluted 
band on some fair daugbter, and despoils ber in 
your midst: tbese are notorious individual crimes 
and outrages. We tbus become so enraged at some 
creatures in tbe sbape of man tbat we wonder wbat 
tbey were ever made for. But tbere is a god's-fact 
speaking out of tbese men, wbicb will one day 
ripen into Moral Science. We look upon snakes, 
toads, flies, mosquitos, lice, curculio, cbincb-bugs, 
and grassboppers, and wonder wbat tbis countless 
swarm of torment and trouble was ever made for. 
We plant our corn, and wonder wby God could not 
bave made it to grow witbout weeds and briars, wbicb 
make us toil and sweat : and if we were disposed, 
we could, in our ignorance, write a tbeologic fable 
about it, saying "tbat God cursed tbe ground for 



A LIST OF EVILS. 171 

man's sake;" whicli fable, wlien knowledge had 
crowned the head of man with science, would read : 
" and God blessed the ground with briars and weeds 
for man's sake." 

Then, in our domestication and civilization, we 
try to handle fire, and this fire-god of the untutored 
mind often burns us up. We make us instruments 
to work with, so that we may live better; and these 
tools of the inventive genius, forged by this god- 
Yulcan of the head, cut, bruise, maim and kill us. 
We capture and subdue steam, and it destroys mil- 
lions of lives on land and sea. We make gun- 
powder to equalize the rights of man through the 
muscles, and we tread on the magazines of our own 
wrath and destruction, and are blown up by the 
million. We look abroad in civilized society, and 
find a land studded with jails and penitentiaries, 
with iron grated cells and massive walls, to confine 
those who would unlawfully take the people's life 
or property. We find asylums for the poor and 
insane, the halt, the dumb, and blind. We find 
nearly every well-constructed house with as many 
locks as doors, to lock out the burglar and thief. 
We often find a nation of soldiers, with all the 
munitions of war on a large scale, keeping guard 
over a race of slaves; and thus Evil is placed in 
great black letters before our eyes. And we are 
now compelled to exclaim : Whence all this mental 
and physical deformity ? in whose laboratory of vice 
and wickedness was all this Ruin created? by 



172 SPECIAL EVILS. 

whose hand was it created ? And there swells in 
our breasts the feeling of opposition to all this ; we 
rise up in indignation against this monster Evil ; we 
would war against and overthrow it; the slave we 
would liberate, and punish the master; we would 
make war against war; we would rob the robber 
and murder the murderer; we would open the 
prison doors, if our own safety did not compel us 
to keep them shut, from a sympathy for our fellow- 
man. This sympathy makes us care for the insane, 
the halt, the blind; makes us educate the dumb 
through the fingers, and school the villain to in- 
dustry who is imprisoned for a crime. N'ay, we 
would preach a salvation from death beyond the 
grave. 

Here we have the conflict of Good and Evil 
lettered in Holy books; lettered in the history of 
nations; lettered in the flesh of man. What a 
world of science is contained in the question of 
Burns! 

"If I'm designed yon lordling's slave, 

By Nature's law designed; 

Why was an independent wish 

E'er planted in my mind?" 



Or we may ask: K we are designed the slaves of 
our own passions, appetites, lusts, by I^ature's law 
designed, why do we oppose in the flesh these 
appetites, passions and lusts? Why do we strive 
to better, not only our own condition, but the con- 
dition of our fellow? We do strive after the better, 



LET THE ACTOR BEWARE. 173 

the higher, the nobler, Id man. We each of us 
have an ideal manhood or womanhood for ourself 
and the race, grander and better than it now ex- 
hibits ; an ideal life better than it now lives. And 
following on after this ideal, we pass on to the 
better, so that 

"Each to-morrow 

Finds us better than to-day." 

The answer to the above may all be summed up 
in one sentence. Man is driven out to search after 
knowledge, and stumbles over the precipice of his 
own ignorance. There is a silent monitor within, 
which says: ''Let the actor beware P^ 



§. 2. How shall I act ? say Morals. This can 
only be answered by Experience. The precipice, 
the thorns, the hard unmellowed e^'th, the floods, 
the winds, the sleet and ice, the scorching heat — in 
short. Pain — ^has wrung out of the flesh the only 
answer that has ever come. Man cannot reason 
from actions outside of himself, and deduce a cor- 
rect theory of morals. Were this so we might say: 
Look at the ant, oh! man, and be a slaveholder, a 
kidnapper, a sluggard. We might say : Look at the 
eagle, and be a robber ; the fox, and be a thief; the 
rattlesnake, and be a murderer; the alligator, and 
be a cannibal. We might say : Look at the beast 
of the field, and abolish marriage ; or lay not up 
for yourselves food and raiment, and thus advise 
you to live vagabonds and beggars ; asserting, also. 



174 SPECIAL EVILS. 

that this is the normal condition of man. But this 
would be false reasoning ; for while this might be 
the normal condition of some men, it is by no 
means the ideal conception ; nor is it the true con- 
dition of those who have already risen far beyond 
the beast. The time was when kidnapping was 
thought no evil by the majority of men in America. 
E"o one would be justified in now arguing in its 
favor, and adducing proofs from natural history and 
past human conduct. The reason is, the inferior 
are no guide or example to the superior. The 
Carib or Osage Indian would be no moral criterion 
for a Parker or a Frothingham. It is false to sup- 
pose that morals are fixed and external, like a 
scientific truth. They must change with the 
changing conditions of man; must grow with his 
growth; must be a law contingent and necessary to 
the individual in growth, but not absolute and 
eternal. They must apply to the individual, not 
the race. They are special, not general. The moral 
law which would apply to the individual, Beecher, 
and fulfill all the conditions of his life, would not 
apply to any other individual living or dead, or who 
may live. Those conditions which evolve action, 
and which give Henry Ward Beecher happiness, 
and do not ^injure any other man, ^n\\ never be pro- 
duced again in any other person, and have never 
existed before. This is why a perfect moral law 
never has been given, and could never be obeyed 
if given. 



FABLES ARE MORAL AXIOMS. 175 

§. 3. K one is blindfolded and put into a strange 
house, he can only learn imperfectly what it con- 
tains, by stumbling around in ignorance, and then 
only conjecturing from the touch. "Well, just so it 
is with the child ; it is taught wisdom from experi- 
ence; and the world of Mankind is taught wisdom 
by stumbling over Blind Conjecture in the night of 
its ignorance. Knowledge is the lamp which shines 
with increasing brightness as man diligently plods 
onward. It is the oil of the head which keeps this 
lamp burning. As the child falls in learning to 
walk, so mankind falls in learning to live; and the 
fall is called Moral Evil. Without the fall there 
would be no knowledge from which to construct 
the moral of life. The "how?" could never be 
answered. The most vital and self-evident truth of 
the whole Bible is the story of Man's Fall. In fact, 
the fables of the world are all moral axioms. They 
are the first truths of experience; they guide, and 
cheer, and shine like stars in the night. Man is 
compelled to go forth in action; it is no choice of 
his. He is created and set in motion on this globe 
by forces far anterior to his life, and without his 
knowledge or consent ; but the road he is to travel, 
be it crooked or straight, is, in a measure, one of 
his own choosing. He may shun obstacles, or 
stumble over them; step on thorns, or provide 
against them ; labor, or go hungry. K he acts in 
harmony with the law of his own being and the 
material world about him, the result will be good to 



176 SPECIAL EVILS. 

him ; if not, the result will be bad. He thus exem- 
plifies a freedom hedged in by necessity. 

It is the law of common prudence which always 
commands: "Let the actor beware!" This sup- 
poses a conscious will-power in the actor, however 
high or low the intelligence. It is this which says 
to the animal: "There is danger around you." 
This is a conscious and intelligent force, which is 
to protect the creature against the unconscious and 
blind forces around it. Gravity would hurl you to 
earth from the top of a tower, did you not con- 
sciously, and by force of will through common 
prudence, make your footing sure. The law of 
gravity relates to the material world, and is blind ; 
the law of common prudence relates entirely to the 
mind. The one is a material, the other is a mental 
force. This mental force is one of knowledge. 
^N^ow, there is no force so potent in the world as 
this force of the head, called knowledge. What is 
knowledge for? Only to enable us to harmonize 
the material and mental forces ; or to harmonize the 
mental, and control or shun the material forces, 
would, perhaps, more nearly express it. For ex- 
ample : if a man builds his house near the bank of 
a river, below the high-water mark, to be observed 
on the trees and by the drift-wood along its course, 
then he must expect to be drowned out, or his house 
swept off sometime, perhaps by the next spring's 
freshet. And if he marry a woman with neither 
good sense nor a healthy body, he must expect to 



TWO ILLUSTRATIONS. 177 

have senseless or unhealthy children ; or if a woman 
marry a man who is a drunkard, and she not very 
vigorous in mind, as she must necessarily be to do 
so, then she must expect, if she have children, that 
the chances will be in favor of idiots. In the first 
instance, the state of things was not in harmony 
with the law of the freshet, for the man's good ; 
and in the second place, the state of things was not 
in harmony with the laws of reproduction, for the 
child's good. 'Now, this is the very manner in which 
Moral law is evolved, which only comes through the 
failures of life, or the evils of experience. The 
sweeping away of the man's house gives him this 
moral command: "You ought not to build your 
house there again.'^ And the idiot children pro- 
claim to the parents, in no unmistakable speech, 
that they ought not to build children out of such 
materials again. 

§. 4. But it is evident man himself may pro- 
duce evil in two ways: by acting in ignorance, 
which may be termed negative evil or error, and 
also by acting with the full knowledge that evil is 
to be the result, which may be termed positive evil, 
or sin. Thus you tell your child to bring you a 
piece of iron from the ground, not knowing it is 
hot. It picks it up and gets burnt. I^ow, should 
you tell the child with the full knowledge that the 
iron is hot, it would be your sin, while in the other 

case it would be your error. But this is by no 
M 



178 SPECIAL EVILS. 

means all of this case. The child is burnt; not you. 
Yet you have committed the error, or sin, while the 
child only suffers the evil. The evil is the effect of 
fire on the child's hand. True, you may suffer sec- 
ondarily through sympathy; but the child it is that 
suffers the evil primarily through physical pain. 
IS^ow the moral law is violated by you, through 
willful knowledge or prudential neglect, and is 
evolved through the experience of the child. But 
this is not all. The child finds that you are prima- 
rily the cause of the evil, and an antagonism is 
hereby necessitated. If it can distinguish between 
knowledge and ignorance, and thinks you knew the 
result beforehand, the antagonism produces hatred 
towards you from injured self, which is only self- 
love evolving hatred; or, in the second place, if it 
thinks you did not mean it, which conclusion it 
could only gather from a belief in your ignorance, 
the antagonism takes the form of a lack of con- 
fidence in you. In either case the child is taught 
self-reliance. But this is the very soul of Morals. 
This evolves the science of individual action. But 
again: The cause of the evil, directly, was the fire 
which burnt the hand. This was unconscious, and 
no blame can be attached to it. It would be 
foolish, then, to say: ^'Fire is a great evil, do not 
touch it;" for while it is a great evil, it is also a 
great good, and proves good or evil to man just as 
he uses it. In fact, this may be said of all the 
material forces of the world. 



A QUESTION ANSWERED. 179 

§. 5. ISTow Man is a compound of mental and 
material forces. The unconscious mental and ma- 
terial forces largely predominate. Man cannot be 
blamed for being acted upon. He is the percipient 
of external and internal truths, which manifest 
themselves to him by their own inherent force. 
How man acquires knowledge is utterly inscru- 
table; or how he feels pain. He is made to act, 
and then moved by being acted upon. 

But what is it that guides him when he asks : 
"How shall I act?" To evolve the Science of 
Morals we must answer the question : " Why does 
he act as he does?" It may be an indefinite answer 
to reply: Because of Conditions. Yet this is the 
answer, and the only answer possible, which makes 
morals undefinable. These conditions, which con- 
trol the direction in which man acts, are multiple, 
varying and conflicting. These necessitate choice, 
which is the result of judgment, the product of 
number and equality. When one acts thus it may 
be called rational action, — an act according to Rea- 
son. This is dififerent from those actions which 
spring directly from feeling, or intensified sensa- 
tion; as when the child picked up the hot iron, the 
feeling would compel it to instantly drop it; or 
when a child falls from a second-story window, the 
mother rushes to pick it up; or when one assaults 
you with a deadly weapon, you instinctively assume 
the defensive. In these cases there is no choice of 
actions. 



180 SPECIAL EVILS, 

Now, the emotional faculties of man are all 
great batteries of feeling. They are the forces 
which move him, and are in and of themselves as 
blind and irrational as the steam which drives an 
engine. Thus his love and hatred he cannot pre- 
vent. That is, the feeling called love and hatred. 
In fact, a feeling cannot be prevented ; it must pre- 
cede all prevention. These may not be always 
expressed, outwardly; but it is Reason which is 
there, controlling the course of action. 

Thus, also, of a belief. It is as irresistable as a 
feeling, and to be removed you have, as with the 
feeling, to remove the cause. It is thus E-eligion, 
Love, and all those feelings which move the man, 
to be brought within morality, have to be controlled 
by Reason; for there is an immoral religion and 
love, as well as an immoral hatred and revenge, 
when expressed in action. 

Now, when man acts blindly, he has nothing to 
assure him of the good effects of his action; that 
is, if he lets the emotions drive him on without the 
control of Reason. In this case he is in the exact 
condition of a ship at sea without a rudder. It may 
happen that it can be brought safely to land by the 
blind forces which move it; but the chances are 
largely in favor of its sailing perpendicularly down- 
ward to land. It is control, the guidance of Reason, 
that man has always lacked. The forces which make 
him, and drive him, have but seldom been con- 
trolled. Thu3 many of the evils to man arise from 



SOME PHYSICAL EVILS. 181 

the stomach. Too little or too much food, — that 
which is poor or improperly eaten. A hungry or 
deranged stomach makes an ill temper; an ill tem- 
per brings hasty words; these bring on strife; and 
strife has set over against it a long list of evils, — 
murder, robbery, war, and those human deeds of 
revenge so often witnessed in the inferior races, 
who are at best very poorly fed. It is thus, also, 
evil is not always connected with its immediate 
cause; as when a son is born and educated to live a 
life of theft and dissipation, or a daughter is born 
and educated to live a life of prostitution, or is 
driven to it from hunger. One is not to blame for 
his grandfather having had hungry and bad neigh- 
bors ; yet the thunder-bolt of wrath which he forged 
in revenge, it may be the grandchild's misfortune to 
be compelled to pick up, through the command of 
inherited defects. Some people feel bad, and " blue," 
and melancholy. They do not know what ails them, 
and are in doubt often whether to go to the doctor 
or the minister for relief. If to the latter, he is 
sure to tell them it is a change of heart they need ; 
whereas, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, it is 
a change of diet they need. Instead of a new heart, 
it is often a new liver they need. Instead of min- 
ister's prayers and tears, they absolutely need soap 
and warm water. Some earnest enquirers, anxious 
about their souls, are only sujBfering the penalties of 
inherited disease. Thus some poor weeping woman, 
nervous and troubled about her soul, feeling as 



182 SPECIAL EVILS. 

thougli she had lost the kingdom of heaven and 
must find it ; feeling as though she were an eternal 
bankrupt, is only a bundle of nerves whose uneasy, 
twitching threads run many generations back to the 
nervous battery of her disease. She is mistaken in 
thinking that her soul needs salvation; it is her 
body, which was lost in her mother's womb. It 
must be expected, for force ever begets its own like 
when not counteracted; that, if a father drinks 
whisky, the child, that is conceived after the draught, 
will smell of the bottle, and the sour grapes of dis- 
sipation will set the children's teeth on edge. 

]!:Tow, all this is only to make people think^ and 
is the means of compelling people to study the 
established laws of pro-creation. It is Evil, with 
fiery tongue and scorpion sting, whose touch is 
palsy and whose breath is mental blight, which can, 
and only can,, and must, some day, evolve the Science 
of Pro-creation. For it is a fact of this world, that 
man can only be tortured into logical thought and 
moral action. It thus becomes necessary that Evil 
must result from the ignorant, innocent, and unin- 
tentional error of man, just as certainly and alike 
appalling as though from willful and premediated 
sin. Were this not so. Evil would be an incompre- 
hensible tragedy to man. It would be a world with 
a Devil and hell, but no God; it would be a world 
of feeling, but without science; a world of wild, 
erratic action, without a logical thought to govern. 
But all these special evils we witness about us. 



WISDOM COMES THROUGH EVIL. 183 

make up page after page of the Record, — the story 
of the bruises, the sores, the pains, the losses, the 
wailing and anguish, the diseases of head and 
body, — all incident to weakness and ignorance, 
which man is to generalize into the Science of 
Living. The ''How?" can come in no other way. 
It may seem strange to some that wisdom can come 
in no other way; Itut what is stranger still, the head 
will not retain wisdom without the touch of Evil 
occasionally. After Evil has evolved the Science 
of Living, no man would follow it without a little 
severe jogging of the understanding. So that Evil 
must be a modified yet constant companion of man. 
I^ever let a child walk for fear of falling, which you 
can prevent by your own strength, and the child 
would not walk when grown. It is the falling, 
incident to walking, which will make it a prude7it 
walker, not subject to falling, after strength has 
been acquired by exercise. It is the tired body that 
enjoys repose, also. Without the aches of toil we 
would have no joy of rest; without the gnawing of 
hunger, no pleasure of the palate. Ague and mos- 
quitos will drive people from swamps and mias- 
matic localities to higher and healthier ground; 
and the penalties of vice and licentiousness will 
drive the poor sin-sick prodigal, who has been 
filling himself with husks among human swine, 
home to his father's mansion. What the world has 
called a devil's malice, is only God's medicine. It 
is this which brings its cure some time, and igno- 



184 SPECIAL EVILS. 

rant man is compelled to drink the cup, though 
mingled with, gall and wormwood, or though like 
liquid fire. 

§. 6. Moral Evil, then, means wisdom. It con- 
tinually cries: "Get knowledge!" and "Let the 
actor beware!" It was once thought, in the theo- 
logic sense, that God talked audibly to man, in 
good Greek and Hebrew, and that he wrote on 
parchment and stone his commands to men; but 
science reveals no such God. The God of Science 
speaks to man with a million tongues. He speaks 
in a million ways, silently, audibly, omnipotently, 
unmistakably, in the body and mind of man, in the 
body and mind of the race. His prophet and priest 
is Evil. God did not, in personal shape, speak to 
the American people, and say, in good English: 
"American slavery is the sum of all villainies." 
Yet he spoke it through the mouth of Wesley, who 
had learned the science of action. And he spoke 
scientifically through those mighty evils which 
always accompany slavery. He degraded the slave, 
and doubly degraded the master. He made the 
latter weak, overbearing, and aristocratic. He 
wrought foolishness in his brain, put a lie on his 
tongue, and made him believe it, that slavery might 
be damned. He made him insolent and ill-behaved 
towards Freedom. He puffed him up with pride, 
and sowed the seeds of malice and spite in his head, 
which drove him on to assault Freedom in her own 



HOW GOD TALKS. 185 

temple. Driven out thence, he .wove a net to en- 
snare her. But the war-god drew over him the 
meshes of his own net, and extinguished him by 
making him go through the wine-press of outraged 
Freedom. It is thus the God of Science talks, and 
gives his revelations to man. Oppression gave to 
the English people Habeas Corpus, and every Bill 
of Rights so proudly esteemed by this people. It 
was the Iniquity of England, under an idiotic king, 
towards her colonies, which gave to the United 
States the Declaration of Independence. It is thus 
Freedom and Wisdom are evolved from Tyranny 
and Idiocy. God did not say to Moses audibly, nor 
write it on parchment in good Hebrew: "If the 
children of Israel go four days without food in a 
strange land, they will get hungry and steal;" but 
he wrote it in the pit of the stomach of mankind, 
and so made a law for both Jew and Gentile. 

§. 7. The Evil called Theft is one of God's 
ministers. It is prophet, priest, and law-giver. 
Wisdom is some day to be enacted out of Theft; 
for it holds a part of the great Book of the Law of 
God. When a man steals your breadcorn, remem- 
ber there is a cause somewhere independent of the 
theft to account for it. May be, he got hungry and 
had to steal. May be, his grandfather's averice blos- 
somed into theft, and thus transmitted theft and 
wealth to him as a legacy. Thus vice may be of 
slow growth. It may take several generations, 



186 



SPECIAL EVILS. 



through a train of circumstances very slight, ana 
apparently not sinful or wrong, to perfect one nat- 
ural-born thief. Here is a case in point: 

A little girl of very wealthy and Christian 
parents, living in a western city, was found to have 
an uncontrolable desire to steal, and often did steal. 
She began when quite young to steal her playmate's 
pieces of silver coin. She at last stole from a store 
in the city, was found out, talked to and punished, 
but to no effect. At last, in stealing from a certain 
merchant, she was observed, followed to her father's 
house, the money seized and the facts brought 
directly under the father's eye. He was wealthy, a 
strict Christian, and a member of the church. He 
had before talked to her, scolded, expostulated, 
whipped, and for hours prayed with his little 
thievish daughter. She, in tears, would acknowl- 
edge how naughty she was ; how wicked it was to 
steal ; how sure she was of going to hell when she 
died ; and would, all lacerated and bruised, promise 
to never do so again. Yet, for all this, she would 
steal with fear and trembling, even when her father 
gave her all the money she wanted. Once the 
father, for two weeks, made a prison of his garret 
for her, locked her in, fed her only on bread and 
water, prayed and wept with her three times a day. 
At last womanhood, pride of position, affluence and 
care, suppressed the outward exhibition of this 
abnormal craving for money within her. 

A train of circumstances altogether human made 



A CASE m POINT. 187 

her a natural-born thief. Here they are: Her 
mother, before marrying this child's father, was a 
widow. By her former husband she had a son, 
whom she gave away before marrying again. Her 
two first children from the second marriage were 
fine girls. But at this period in life her only son 
from her former marriage unfortunately came to 
see his mother. He was then almost a young man. 
The lad was poor and his mother living in affluence, 
the wife of a millionaire. The wife and mother 
asked her husband for some money for her boy. 
She was refused even a dollar. She then went to 
work secretly, and under false pretenses, to obtain 
it of her husband. She would often go to the store 
and steal small sums at a time. Several months 
elapsed in this manner, and having obtained quite a 
sum, gave it to her boy and sent him back to his 
adopted home. E'ot long after this the third 
daughter was born, and she grew up to be the 
troublesome little girl who had to be imprisoned 
in her father's own house, unmercifully whipped, 
who had the picture of hell presented to her young 
imagination, and for years mingled her sobs with 
her father's prayers. 

The above is one of hundreds of similar cases. 
The wisdom which is to be enacted out of Theft 
will come some day ; and the thief is only a sort of 
devilish book which we are compelled to study, for 
it is continually kept before our very eyes. The 
thief is the product of forces as natural as the earth 



188 SPECIAL EVILS. 

we tread. , There is established in Nature a general 
and immutable law: ''That like begets likeJ^ This is 
the sole characteristic of Force. This moves the 
atom, and compels like atoms to assume like mo- 
tions. In regard to the pro-creation of animals and 
plants, under like circumstances, like begets like ; 
theft begets theft, murder begets murder, lust be- 
gets lust, and goodness, piety, love, these beget 
their own like. And the parent mother of the 
young child unborn, induced within it, or impressed 
upon it, then and there, her own strongest feelings 
and desires; and when the child was born, the 
forces of theft came coiled up within it ; and when 
it grew up morally distorted, and the mother beheld 
the moral ruin and appaling disposition of her child, 
she was only looking at her former self, under the 
tyranny of her husband. It is thus the God of 
Science talks, and holds up the mirror to every 
parent. It is thus he opens the eyes and ears, and 
drives away the stupidity of man. It is thus he 
shows man wherein he has made the failure, and 
wherein he can better the abortive work. 

Very much of the stealing in the world comes 
from poverty, and the tyranny of the rich over the 
poor. Society is so organized that the rich man 
grows richer and the poor man poorer, which ever 
must produce crime. How to remedy this we do 
not know ; but one thing is evident : Crime will be 
kept festering in the flesh of Society till wisdom is 
enacted out of it, and the thief becomes unneces- 



THE THIEF A NECESSITY. 189 

sary. At present the thief is a necessity, as much 
so as is law and religion. When we can get along 
without crime, we can get along without law and 
religion, for crime is the parent of both these. It 
would not cure the evil of theft to hang the thief 
up by the neck till dead; nay, you may kill off all 
the thieves in the world to-day, and the next gener- 
ation, in proportion to its greatly diminished num- 
bers, would doubtless be as rife with theft as this. 
The reason is, the seeds of crime are lying dormant 
in society, and the very institutions which are trying 
to destroy crime are producing it. Theft is not an 
isolated and independent thing. It is not alone 
begotten of theft. But other transactions, which 
take the dignified titles of law and religion, often 
beget it. It is only the ripened fruit of that cunning 
which we see in the trades of life, in " sharp deal- 
ing,'' whether in driving a bargain or in getting 
souls into a church. 

We would refer the reader to a further consid- 
ation of this subject in a discourse, in this volume, 
entitled " Salvation and Damnation Before Birth," 
and we will pass to other considerations of the 
subject. 

§. 8. Without sorrow the feeling we call hap- 
piness would never have had a name. We know 
nothing, in fact, of happiness, only as we contrast 
it with sorrow. There is, perhaps, no unalloyed 
happiness. The old adage, no rose without a thorn, 



190 



SPECIAL EVILS. 



seems to liold good always. This fact let that deep 
thinker and close reasoner, Jonathan Edwards, to 
affirm : " The miseries of hell would augment the 
pleasures of heaven." The only fallacy in this is in 
localizing hell and heaven. It is perhaps more 
nearly the truth to say heaven and hell are within 
and around us always. They are necessary feelings 
produced by the conditions of life, and the one im- 
plies and necessitates the other. They are the two 
poles of one force; and if man is immortal, heaven 
and hell are eternal. How vain it would be to talk 
to a person of happiness who had never felt sorrow. 
It would be, we imagine, like expatiating upon the 
beauties of the rainbow to a person born blind. 
There would be the colors and the happiness, but 
no knowledge of either. Little would we sympathize 
with the afflicted, had we not suffered ourselves. 
Seldom would we feed the hungry, had we not hun- 
gered ourselves. How seldom would we strive to 
bind up the broken-hearted, had we ourselves never 
had the cords of affection broken. As there is no 
night without its day, so there is also no sorrow 
without its joy; and as the tree is prepared by the 
frosts and storms of winter for the budding spring- 
time and the gorgeous summer, so the cradle of 
affliction prepares us for our happiest hours. All 
must go through hell to get into heaven. Mate- 
rially man is a plant, rooted to earth ; he draws his 
nourishment therefrom, taking deep root in the soil 
out of which he grows. When a tree is well planted 



WITHOUT SHADE, NO PICTURE. 191 

in good soil, it takes deeper root and a firmer stand 
by being rocked in the storms of winter. It is thus 
we are rocked in the storms of trouble. We are 
cradled in affliction and schooled in sorrow. Expe- 
rience is our stern and severe teacher, who often 
drives us into thought by cruel torture. In this 
school we often suffer and despair; but without it 
we would never taste the delights of pleasure, nor 
behold with an appreciative eye the blending beau- 
ties of the rainbow of hope. It is the blending of 
light and shade which makes the picture, either on 
canvas or in character. Without shade there can 
be no picture ; without Evil no character. It is the 
scientific skill of the artist which brings out the 
picture through the antagonism of light and dark- 
ness; and the scientific skill of the man or woman 
which is to bring out the beautiful moral character 
through the antagonism of good and evil. 

It is thus we find a meaning in all the evils of 
the world. Evil brings its revelation of Good, come 
from whence it may; and to secure the good, Evil 
must come. And so it drives us over our own 
ignorance, stumbling down to error, in all the rela- 
tions of life, in family, church, and state. Evil also 
comes to us which we have had no hand in, given 
to us from our ancestors, many generations back; 
handed down from sire to son. These evils blind 
us in mental darkness, draw us into errors by phan- 
tom follies, or drive us madly on in paths of lust. 

Kow, were there no meaning in Evil, no good to 



192 SPECIAL EVILS. 

be evolved therefrom, but that Evil is only Evil, then 
indeed would the condition of the world be sad and 
deplorable. But we find Evil established and gov- 
erned by fixed and general laws. We find herein 
effect following cause with unerring precision. Law 
and penalty are linked together, and the law mani- 
fests itself only through the penalty. " Step on this 
thorn and suffer, or provide against it;" this is the 
admonition of Evil. But that the thorn is an evil 
we have no reason to conclude. It is often con- 
sidered so by the unthinking, because pain arises 
from it. It is not the thorn, nor rattlesnake, nor 
mosquito, nor grasshopper, nor miasm, which is the 
evil; the evil primarily is in us, in the shape of 
Ignorance. We do not know of the thorn or the 
snake, or we would provide against it. It is not 
the Alcohol which a man takes into his stomach 
that is the evil ; it is the drinking of it improperly. 
The evil is in the act; not in the thing. Strychnine 
is a great good ; it does not change its nature at all 
if taken into the stomach ; it is not rendered any 
less good by eating it. The evil is in the use of it. 
The bad act, the wrong act, the evil act, always 
brings its penalty and its wisdom therewith. It iB 
thus this whole world is perfectly good in and of 
itself; and the law of each thing proclaims itself, 
and is true to itself. This is the everlasting law of 
beauty, and harmony, and good in the universe. 
Each string of a musical instrument is true to itself. 
If it be made double, as in the piano, and the ten- 



EVERY FORCE TRUE TO ITSELF, 193 

sion is not alike on each, it proclaims the discord. 
The strings talk of their discord and harmony au- 
dibly, as though they had tongues; and they talk 
with such precision as no tongue can imitate. E'ow, 
the life of man is just like a performance on a 
piano. It may be a tune, or jumble of sounds; the 
tune may run smoothly without discord ; it may be 
one of many variations; it may roll in crescendo 
and diminuendo like the waves of the ocean, or it 
may be a monotonous jingle of a few notes; it may 
ascend to the complex and scientific overture of a 
Beethoven, or desend to the monotonous drawl and 
humdrum of a Chippewa indian; and yet each 
one will be true to itself. "What would delight 
the Indian would kill Beethoven, either in life or 
music. Every force of the universe is true to itself. 

I^ow, every wi'ong act has its penalty. The 
penalty proclaims that it is wrong. Were there no 
evil effects to follow the drinking of whisky, it 
would not be wrong to drink it at any time. Nor 
is it the drinking of it that produces evil, for it 
maybe sometimes taken without injury; but it is 
the umvise use of it. 'No one can justly command 
as a law: "ITever drink whisky; it is a monstrous 
evil," any more than one would be warranted in 
saying: "l!^ever eat any food; it is a monstrous 
evil ;" for whisky may save life in the counteraction 
of a poison, and food may be taken to gluttony and 
thus destroy life. All that can be said is: Eat and 
drink temperately; that is, according to Eeason: 
N 



194 SPECIAL EVILS. 

this is the moral of eating and drinking. But sin 
or error can never go unpunished. The person 
who commits the sin or error, however, may not 
feel the penalty; it may be reserved for his offspring 
to suffer it, who are innocent of guilt. Yet because 
persons do not suffer for their error or sin, does not 
therefore prove they are forgiven for it. It is per- 
haps in this way the notion ©f forgiveness of sins 
has come into the world. It would be quite natural 
to suppose so, seeing that the penalties of the iniq- 
uities of the fathers are visited upon the children, 
not only to the fourth generation, but to the fortieth. 
In the light of conscious existence hereafter, how- 
ever, the original evil-doer might be made to suffer 
secondarily through sympathy. According to the 
old notion of a local heaven and hell, this sympathy 
of the righteous would itself turn heaven into a 
secondary hell. 

It is thus no sin can be forgiven, either in a 
theological or scientific sense. In the Christian 
theology, Christ is said to suffer for the sins of the 
world; and the righteous are saved, not because 
they can sin with impunity, but because Christ 
bears their iniquity through sympathy and actual 
suffering. The Christian theology does not hang 
by such a rope of sand as to have a scheme of sal- 
vation which admits sin, even in those who are 
saved, without some one suffering therefor; for sin 
without suffering is a contradiction in terms. The 
grand mistake in the Christian scheme of salvation 



SIN CANNOT BE FORGIVEN 195 

is to suppose heaven to be a state or condition of 
absolute bliss, and that a certain belief is necessary 
to produce it. N'ow, absolute bliss is impossible, 
and belief no more depends on the will of man than 
does sunlight or the earth's motion. Belief is as 
necessitated in man as is spring-time in the year, 
and obeys laws as fixed as those which move the 
heavenly orbs. There is no such thing as free be- 
lief, any more than free love or free hatred. These 
are all necessitated, and depend on causes anterior 
to and superseding the will. E'o one can gird him- 
self up and say: "IN'ow I will believe so and so, and 
secure this or that blessing;" for whether he will 
or no, the belief is independent of it. Now let us 
take a case in point. We will define a sin to be a 
willful violation of a known law of God. You get 
drunk knowing that it will injure your ofispring; 
you fall into the gutter of licentiousness, transmit 
the lust of your heart and the smell of the bottle to 
your child; he has a mania for liquor all his life, 
proves a curse to you, to the mother who bore him, 
and to the world. Now, can you believe, by willing 
it, in such a manner, that God shall forgive you for 
your drunkenness, and prevent the effect on your 
child? How can God forgive you? No one can 
imagine. It is beyond the power of man to con- 
ceive or guess. Nothing would be so calamitous to 
man, were it possible for one such sin to be forgiven. 
The forgiveness of one sin might turn the world 
into a hell more literal than the ancients ever pic 



196 SPECIAL EVILS, 

tured the abode of devils. The forgiveness of one 
sin is just as impossible, as the annihilation of one 
atom of matter. Then, again, it is a contradiction 
in terms. It is just like saying a force may act 
without any effect. It is like affirming an effect 2<s, 
which may be so obliterated that it never was. The 
truth is, if an effect is produced, it is an eternal fact 
of the universe. ITow, a sin is an effect which has 
been produced. As such it is, and always will be, 
an eternal fact of the universe. And if it could be 
forgiven, it would be so obliterated that it never was. 

§. 9. The faculties of man are all necessary and 
good. But we have just seen that the improper use 
of a thing creates evil, which is true to itself by 
bringing its penalty and wisdom. It is thus, also, a 
faculty may be perverted in the excessive, abnormal, 
or improper action thereof. The love of food may 
be perverted into the love of alcohol and tobacco, 
and thus produce great evils. The love of property 
may push itself forward into theft. Hatred may go 
beyond a righteous indignation into savage revenge. 
And thus evils come by the legion, with their pains 
and penalties; and poor fallen and constantly falling 
man, keeping a record of his falls each day, at eve- 
ning looks over the list, and constructs therefrom a 
chart for future guidance. 

In this regard let us look at man in his Religious 
and Sexual emotions. He presents in these two 
phases the most prominent acts of his life. They 



A LUST AFTER GOD. 197 

move him, next to hunger, with the greatest violence 
and energy. They are two of the mighty forces of 
his nature. And first of the Rehgious faculty. We 
have elsewhere defined this to be that which prompts 
man to worship. This brings men and women to- 
gether in the greatest numbers. It has dotted the 
world over with churches, cathedrals, temples, pyra- 
mids, monuments. It has its sacred groves, and 
caves, and mountains. It has made holy the ground 
on which prophets and priests have trod, and the 
lands in which peoples have dwelt. But as it is one 
of the most powerful, when perverted it has been 
one of the most abused ; and by pervertion we only 
mean its normal action, without the guidance of 
Reason. The religious faculty is ever true to itself, 
however erratic or intensely it may act. It is in 
itself blind and irrational, and Reason is all that 
makes it pure, and beautiful, and moral. It has 
specially incarnated God in bits of wood ; in cats 
and dogs; in crocodiles and serpents; in golden 
calves and living bulls; in statues of ideal men, 
and in the living bodies of strong men. It has 
driven men mad in honor of a holy name or thing. 
It has whetted the tw^o-eged sword of Revenge 
sharper than the Damascus blade, to hew in pieces 
the princes of the earth, the people they ruled, and 
the children they begat. The holy fanatic has eaten 
the flesh and drank the blood of the man who would 
not worship his god. The lands of whole nations 
have been devasted, devoured by fire and cut down 



198 SPECIAL EVILJS, 

by sword ; all that stood or breathed have perished, 
to appease the wrath of a hidden god. In this lust 
after God the greatest armies have been marshaled, 
the longest wars have been waged, the mightiest 
battles fought. The earth has drank up rivers of 
human blood, shed in the name of Religion. The 
genius of men has been called forth to invent 
instruments of death, and machines of horrid tor- 
ture, to rend, rack, behead, crucify, and mangle the 
flesh of those who would deny the creed or doubt 
the popular religious dogma. Men and women 
have been made to confess themselves guilty of 
crimes of which they were entirely innocent; so 
that Marquis Beccarria was compelled to submit 
this problem to the religious world: "The force of 
the muscles and the sensibility of the nerves of an 
innocent person being given, it is required to find 
the degree of pain necessary to make him confess 
himself guilty of a given crime." Young princes, 
as a daily pastime, have learned to hurl the lance at 
the hearts of men, as targets, who were imprisoned 
for the religion they professed. Men of generous 
culture or of great learning, and women of eminent 
piety and virtue, from the humble cottage to the 
throne, have been led out for matters of conscience 
and butchered before a mad rabble lusting after 
God. The limbs of men and women have been 
torn from their bodies, their eyes gouged out, their 
flesh mangled and slowly roasted, their children 
barbarously tortured before their eyes, because of 



THE RELIGIOUS RIDDLE SOLVED. 199 

religious opiiiiou. Woman has been taken from 
her dungeon while giving birth to her babe, to 
augment the pangs of child-birth by fire at the 
stake. Armed men in the priest's employ, with all 
the horrid machinery of the Inquisition behind them, 
have been organized under a spiritual head, and 
called the "Militia of Jesus Christ," to kill heretics. 
All this and much more, which even to name would 
be barbarous, has been done for the sake of Religion. 
A bhnd infatuation has possessed the mind of man 
like a demon, and fanaticism has driven him on to 
the most barbarous and savage acts, in the holy 
name of Religion. Religion, in thy name what 
barbarities have been committed, what hellish deeds 
have been done ! 

But is there no meaning in all this ? Was the 
Sphinx to propound her riddle always, that she 
might sacrifice the innocent on the altar of Igno- 
rance? Is there no Edipus to solve this riddle? 
Surely, it can be solved. The meaning is two-fold. 
The incentives to scientific pursuits and investiga- 
tions come from the god-thought. Science must be 
born of Theology; must literally come in pain and 
agony. Theology matures when the god-thought 
is divided and complex ; when theological specula- 
tion is diverse. And when Science is given to the 
world, Theology expends all her forces in combat- 
ting her own self. Thus we have had the holy wars 
of the world, which only mean: as Science shall 
live and grow, and proclaim her own power, hence- 



200 SPECIAL EVILS, 

forth Theology becomes unnecessary, and must de- 
stroy herself. The bloody wars between the Cath- 
olics and Protestants are perhaps ended; and they 
will now pass away in intellectual combat, because 
the Protestant wing, in being so much divided up, 
is the true representative of Science. Should the 
Protestant Church, however, ever unite under one 
banner, with a central god-thought, as the Catholic 
Church now is, then there must a bloody and exter- 
minating war ensue. If the scientific world has 
anything to be thankful for, it is the division in the 
Protestant Church; and that zeal which keeps them 
divided is a continual showering down of Cod's 
blessing upon Science. While the church is divi- 
ded and distracted, Science is permitted to invoke 
the god of fire in the laboratory; the god of the 
stars through the telescope ; the god of the flesh in 
the dissecting room ; and the student is permitted 
to boldly generalize all the phenomena of Force 
into a Science of Evil, which, as it investigates the 
causes of all Science, must be itself the Science of 
all sciences. 

§. 10. But let us now pursue the Sexual emo- 
tion. As with the Religious faculty, so also with the 
Love of the opposite sex. There is nothing in this 
wrong. It is true to itself. But its course is erratic 
when Reason does not guide. This faculty is also 
blind. And how truly the ancients reasoned when 
they painted the god of Love blind. This is, per- 



EVILS OF LOVE, 201 

haps, to-day the blindest of all man's faculties, if 
there can be degrees in blindness. What we mean 
is, it is the least controlled by Reason ; that is, it 
is yet the most shrouded in ignorance, because the 
family relations are the most sacred, and the god of 
the hearth-stone drives out every scientific intruder. 
Without Reason, Love is lust. This, also, like 
the religious faculty, has had its sacred groves, and 
caves, and mountains. It has its gods and goddesses, 
before whom mankind bow down in worship. Its 
idols have been made and broken in every land, and 
in every city of the world. Long wars have been 
waged, mighty battles have been fought, in behalf 
of this god of the heart. The blind old poet of 
" Scio's rocky isle" has left to the world, in Grecian 
song, the sad story of the Trojan war; the story of 
fair Hellen lost and won. Rome numbers among 
her greatest battles those fought for love. I^othing 
is so sad in all history as the story of Virginia, after 
Appius Claudius had looked upon her with lustful 
eyes. Tears are wont to come when we read how 
the father, to preserve his daughter from being a 
prey to this vulture of womanly purity, killed her 
with his own hand. And those words of his, as he 
raised the knife to strike the death blow, come down 
to us from the old Roman Forum, breathing the 
spirit of wild, sweet tragedy : 



'Farewell, sweet child, farewell. Oh! how I love my darling. 
Now clasp me round the neck once more, and give me one more kiss. 
And new, my own dear little girl, there is no way but this." 



202 SPECIAL EVILS. 

How sad the story of Hagar and her little son Ish- 
mael, turned out by husband and father, Israel's 
great patriarch and progenitor, to famish in the 
wilderness. How the blood quickens in rage at 
the conduct of King David, after he beheld with 
lustful eyes Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, fairest 
daughter in all Israel, commanding Joab, the great 
captain of his armies, to place Uriah in the fore- 
front of the hottest battle, that he may be slain and 
his wife thus made an easy prey. What foul pollu- 
tion; what blackness of life; what chief sin of all 
sins, must follow the life and blast the memory of 
that man who can murder for the sake of adultery. 
And so it was with David. What a physical and 
moral blight rested on the children he begat. 
Father and children were cursed of God in their 
own generation; cursed with miseries of mind, 
with loathsome disease, with premature decay, and 
death. The words were lettered in every muscle 
and every faculty of David's children : " It had 
been better never to have been born." The first 
child from this lustful murder died young; but 
another lived to inherit his father's double crime. 
Beginning his reign with three horrid murders, he 
afterwards eked out a miserable life of satiety and 
disgust, with a seraglio of a thousand wives and 
concubines. ItTever so plainly has the law of inher- 
ited-like been written in the history of man, as in 
the life of Solomon. The son of Lust and Murder, 
his after life was enacted long before he was born. 



LOVE SHOULD HAVE EYES. 203 

The meanhig of all these evils is not only plain to 
be seen, but it is fearfully depicted in the life of 
man. Such things show how the holiest emotions 
may be turned into damning passions; and that 
which would produce the most bliss, may be made 
to produce indescribable woe. But from the woe 
there must come the science of human reproduction. 
!N'ot only does blind love destroy the life of man, 
but from it comes domestic scenes of discord and 
anger. There is no hate in the world but has a love 
basis of some kind. Love precedes all hate, and 
hate grows therefrom. Love brings jealousies, and 
tears of bitter anguish. It brings demons of mad- 
ness in many a horrid shape and business. Sweet 
Revenge unsheaths the secret dagger; Incontinence 
riots in many a foul deed under cover of night. It 
has set over against its name a long list of crimes, 
the blackest in all the dark deeds of the race, — 
murder, suicide, infanticide, foeticide, incest, rape, 
prostitution. Half the drunkenness of man springs 
from it. Its pathway is that trod by the blind: 
eyes they have, but see not; ears, but hear not; 
heads, but think not. They grope in darkness at 
noonday, and themselves dig pits and spread snares 
which enti^ap them. All this means Science, — Moral 
science; the rational act; the enthronement of Reason. 
These evils are, and ever have been, crying aloud 
to man: ''Give Love eyes.^^ The scientific Cupid 
must have eyes. As religion without reason is 
Superstition, so love without reason is Lust. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
TJSE 8 OCTAL EVIL. 

§. 1. We are now prepared to ask : What does 
prostitution mean ? What is its cause ? How shall 
it be remedied? Can it be cured? 

Prostitution comes to mankind as naturally as 
sunlight. It is no more unnatural than eating and 
drinking. It obeys the great law of Demand and 
Supply. Life and death, vice and virtue, are at 
either pole. It by no means arises always from lust 
in man, or lust in woman. The demand is with 
man however, which must precede the supply. 

In searching for the cause of prostitution, we 
are logically compelled to assert it is two-fold in 
woman, arising from her religious nature and phys- 
ical necessity; that is, the supply to man's demand 
is granted through this two-fold condition of woman. 
It may appear at first difficult to prove this ; but we 
will lay down the following propositions, and then 
adduce such arguments as the facts of the world 
will warrant. 



PROPOSITIONS TO PROVE. 205 

1. The cause of Prostitution principally arises 
in man's lust, desire, or necessity, which demands 
prostitution of woman. 

2. Woman submits to his authority through 
her religious nature and physical necessity. 

Of the first proposition we may state, we cannot 
conceive of a supply, as such, without some demand 
to precede it. I^ow, the question is one of fact: 
Does woman demand prostitution of man, or man 
of woman ? This can only be determined by find- 
ing the strict meaning of prostitution. "We will 
take the popular meaning, the soul of which is, that 
a valuable consideration shall pass between the 
parties. In which direction does the consideration 
pass ? and who submits, the man or woman ? Now, 
prostitution involves either or both of these causes : 
a sale or compulsory submission; and the distinc- 
tion between the two is : when it is a sale, the one 
who receives the consideration is considered the 
guilty party ; but when submission is compulsory, 
the guilt would rest on the aggressive party. But 
who is it that sells, the woman or the man? Surely, 
it is the man who purchases, and the consideration 
passes to the woman. Scarcely ever do we find a 
woman buying the virtue of man. In compulsory 
submission, when mental or physical force is used, 
it is man who is the aggressor. Scurcely ever do 
we find a seduction or a rape of man by woman, or 
of money given to man by woman for the purpose 
of satisfying sexual desire. It may be laid down, 



206 THE SOCIAL EVIL. 

then, as a conclusion of sound reasoning, that the 
demand is with man and the supply with woman. 
N'ow, as it takes the two parties to complete any act 
of prostitution, and the demand arises with man, 
we may logically conclude the cause which precedes 
is in man, who demands prostitution of woman. 
Our first proposition is, therefore, proven. 

2. Woman submits to man through her re- 
ligious nature, and physical necessity. 

Sexual love seems to be different in mankind 
from that in the lower animals, which precludes 
any analogy being drawn therefrom. But the 
roots, as it were, of all human faculties, we may 
trace far down into the animal world. Of all man's 
mental faculties, the religious faculty is perhaps the 
feeblest in all animals below man; yet we some- 
times see it exhibited in the dog and allied spe- 
cies. The females, also, are not dependent on 
the males for food, and there is but little tyranny of 
the males over the females, and but little lust among 
them, till we come to those animals most resem- 
bling man. I^ow, in most of the lower animals, 
what is called love is only sexual desire, and is a 
physical necessity, a purely reproductive force. But 
that which makes one woman love one man, whether 
exhibited in polygamy or monogomy, is entirely 
different from sexual desire, yet perhaps is nearly 
or quite always connected therewith. Sexual desire 
makes love between the lower animals; but often 
therein we see an incipient cause of a higher and 



WHY WOMAN WORSHIPS MAN. 207 

more lasting love, such as the female lion exhibits, 
who seems to choose the strongest lion for the father 
of her offspring. This is only the incipient worship 
of Force in the animal, and primarily arises in fear. 
It is Force which conquers and creates fear, which 
at last ripens into worship. 

It is perhaps a universal characteristic of woman 
to worship a great man. It is at least a very notice- 
able one. It seems to be quite inherent in woman 
to zealously admire a man of power, either of head 
or body. Woman has to have something to admire 
of a manly and commanding nature in her husband, 
which compels her to respect him independent of 
any love she may feel for him. Love is thus inten- 
sified through her religious faculty; and worship is 
only expressed in admiration and love. The wonders 
of Force in any form compel worship in the reflec- 
tive creature. This also creates the feeling of con- 
ferred superiority. It is a worship of Force. The 
ancient wife who looked up to, and did the bidding 
of her husband, only exhibited the action of her 
religious faculty. This compelled her to be faith- 
ful ; to lie at his feet ; to acknowledge him as her 
lord and master; to submit to him as his slave. 
Hence have come the sayings: "Thy desire shall 
be unto him, and he shall rule over thee;" "The 
husband is the head wife;" "The wife of C?esar 
must be above suspicion;" and also the more mod- 
ern saying: "Husband and wife are one; and the 
husband is that one." Take away this feeling in 



208 TEE SOCIAL EVIL. 

woman which confers superiority on man, and the 
institution of marriage becomes one only sustained 
by physical necessity. In other words, had the wife 
nothing to worship in her husband, the marriage 
relation would only depend on tyranny and want 
1^0 sexual love could hold them together. Love is 
of such a nature that it can be destroyed by a 
word. The castles of bliss which Love builds may 
all be shattered by one blow. Love can be pro- 
duced, intensified, and destroyed, by the actions of 
men and women. A person may first hate and 
then love another, or first love and then hate. This 
is of daily and hourly occurrence. But what is 
more lasting than sexual love, is the religious senti- 
ment, the worshipful feeling, which the world's 
history shows to be more intense in woman than in 
man. It is this which makes matrimony a success. 
It is devotion, and nothing else, which makes it 
lasting. It was this feeling of religious submission 
to the husband that made divorce almost unknown 
until within the last hundred years; and then it was 
the husband who always put away his wife for his 
lust after other women, or for her faithlessness to 
him, caused by the worship for some other man. If 
a woman loves a man and nothing more, then any 
abuse will destroy that love; but if she can worship 
him, no abuse from him will destroy that worship. 
Yes, even a woman can hate, but at the same time 
admire a man. Love in itself is fickle; it comes 
and goes like the winds ; but what remains and is 



THE CAUSE OF PROSTITUTION. 209 

permanent and substantial, come^ from the religious 
faculty ; the admiration of worth ; the worth-shipful 
devotion. This is what produces that confiding 
nature in woman; keeping secret all home troubles, 
faithful to a fault, and suifering in silence rather 
than expose the faults of her husband. This dis- 
position in the wife begets also in her husband that 
sympathy and gallantry which is far more powerful 
and lasting than any sexual love. This is the cause 
of marriage; what produces and perpetuates it. 
Produce an exact equality between the sexes in all 
things; in feelings, desires, and physical powers; 
constitute woman so that she will have as much to 
admire and worship in woman as in man; estab- 
lish in law and society this equality; give her an 
equal chance to subsist, hold and acquire property 
with man, and you would at once destroy prostitu- 
tion, but at the same time might destroy marriage. 
Men and women would then become like the beasts 
of the field, without either prostitution, marriage, 
or worship. Marriage and prostitution arc the two 
poles of a double force — Want and Wor.^hi}) — which, 
in their action, obey the law of Demand and Sup- 
ply. It must follow, then, as a logical necessity, 
the greater the increase of prostitution, the less 
marital fidelity; or, in other words, the more pros- 
titution the more tyranny of man over wonmn, 
which the history of the world proves. 

It is from this worshipful nature of woman that 
men who have the insignia of honor upon them; 



210 TEE SOCIAL EVIL. 

who represent any uti common power, — talented speak- 
ers, and especially preachers, princes, and kings, — 
can so easily seduce woman, and what makes "fallen" 
women so anxious to boast of the embraces of many 
eminent men. It is thus a talented preacher, of 
strong sexual instincts, the man who administers to 
the religious nature of woman, is of all men the 
most dangerous to connubial fidelity. This is the 
reason, also, why kings are worshiped and courted 
b}^ their subjects, and why, of all mankind, they are 
the most licentious. So long as woman worships a 
man, that man can control her; he becomes, in the 
strictest sense, her lord and master; ''her divinely 
constituted head and authority;" and her marriage 
with him is lasting, if not happy. 

The worship of Jesus is far more general among 
women than among men. Perhaps in the Protes- 
tant church there are twice as many women as men. 
The reason is plain. Jesus is woman's ideal man, 
whom she must worship. Woman will always find 
some Jesus to worship. The same fact is witnessed 
in the Catholic church, as the cause of nunnery. 
What awful lessons come from the convents of 
Catholic Europe during the Middle Ages. There 
was WTjman incarcerated voluntarily for life, under 
vows the most terrible and binding, eking out a life 
set apart to the worship of Jesus in idleness and 
prayer. The devout thought herself possessed of 
Jesus, who came into her cell at night. Wedded 
to Jesus in her phantom love and real worship. 



WANT AND WORSHIP PRODUCE IT. 211 

the virgin nun thought marriage with man but carnal 
lust. To think on man, was horrid; to look on 
him, madness; and to wed him, would secure the 
eternal frown of Jesus, her ideal man, her lord, and 
her husband. 

A large class of facts could be generalized under 
this head; but the above will suffice. Excessive 
sexual love soon begets satiety and disgust; but 
there is no reaction in the feeling of admiration. 
Worship expends its force in an ideal and infinite 
direction; and worship is the secret of a holy and 
lasting marriage. 

In the inferior races this superiority of man, 
acknowledged by woman in want and worship, is 
displayed in her abject submission as the slave and 
property of man. Woman is bought and beaten 
by her husband, and taken to his home to be his 
faithful slave and wife. An Indian will trade his 
wife for a pony, or swap an old squaw^ for a young 
one, and give a pony into the bargain. But it is 
the religious faculty which perpetuates slavery, of 
whatever sort. Did not the slave worship his mas- 
ter, there would never be a slave. The worshiper 
always submits to the tyranny of the master, whether 
man or god. Deductively we are led to this conclu- 
sion, from the nature of Force. It compels its own 
ivorship. But history also affirms. This basis of 
slavery is noticed in two remarkable facts in Amer- 
ican history. The American Indian has never been 
successfully enslaved, though often tried. He has 



212 THE SOCIAL EVIL, 

also but little feeling of devotion. In the Negro it is 
intense. The ITegro is confiding and faithful ; the 
Indian suspicious, and of all treacherous beings, the 
most treacherous. The JSTegro worships with a zeal 
which no white man can equal. 

It seems thus that all forms of slavery arise out 
of, and are perpetuated by, the selfish demand, on 
the one hand ; and, the supply being given, through 
Want and Worship on the other. There must be 
the actor, and that to be acted upon; the one who 
demands, and the one who gives the supply; the 
authority, and the submission. Prostitution is the 
result of the same force, and obeys the same im- 
mutable laws. 

In regard to want driving woman to a sale of 
her body, this is but too truly proven by constantly 
recurring facts, and needs only to be stated to be 
admitted by the intelligent reader. Wherever, in 
fact, there is an inferior or dependent class, there is 
always more want attending it than in a superior 
class. The more enslaved, the more degraded will 
a class be; and, with degredation. Want runs riot. 
Want drives woman not only into dens of vice, but 
builds marble halls garnished with licentiousness. 
All this comes, then, from two things: the de- 
mand in man, creating slavery and want; and the 
supply in woman, in strict accordance therewith. 

The foregoing are some of the many facts which 
present themselves in support of the second propo- 
sition, viz : that woman submits to man's authority 



NO LAW OF NATURE VIOLATED. 213 

through her religious nature and physical want. 
As Force compels its own worship, and makes 
religion a necessity of man, so Want ever begets 
dependence and submission. Eiches and poverty 
are the two poles of the cumulative force. An ex- 
cess of one necessitates an excess of the other. 
The force which produces a millionaire at one of 
its poles, must have twenty people of want at 
the other. Every prince of fortune is compli- 
mented by a squad of beggars whom he represents. 
Then Hunger will drive man into theft; woman 
into a sale of her virtue. There is in this no law 
of Nature violated; nay, the prince of fortune and 
the beggar, the thief and the prostitute, are the 
result of a law as natural and eternal as that which 
keeps the earth in its orbit. 

§. 2. How, then, shall we remedy the evil of 
Prostitution, and save the institution of marriage? 
Surely, not by waging a warfare against the prosti- 
tute. She is the result of a cause over which she 
had no more control than over her birth, or the 
wealth of her neighbor. She could not help being 
a prostitute, any more than the' negro could help 
being made a slave. To strike at the prostitute, 
would be by no means striking at the cause of 
Prostitution. This is just like slavery. There is 
on the one hand the master, on the other hand the 
slave; the demand and the supply, the prostitutor 
and the prostitute. How did we abolish slavery in 



214 THE SOCIAL EVIL, 

the late war? by striking at the slave, or the master? 
How long, think you, would it have taken us to 
have ended slavery, by leveling all our guns and 
expending all our forces against the negro, instead 
of the master? The negros themselves would have 
risen up against us, and defended southern slavery, 
as a divine institution. What kind of morals would 
it have exhibited, if an exterminating warfare had 
been begun against the negro for being a slave? 
"Well, the prostitute occupies in E'ature the same 
position of the southern slave. She is produced by 
the same forces; is governed by the same laws. 
To destroy Prostitution, the same course must be 
pursued as against slavery. The cause must be 
removed, the demand destroyed, or in some manner 
counteracted. But in the popular method of war- 
fare against Prostitution, the slave, and not the 
master, is the victim ; and true to nature and the 
eternal laws of God, the prostitute is compelled to 
defend Prostitution, when in very truth she despises 
it. If in trying to remove a living and growing 
effect, the cause be not removed, nothing is effected. 
All agitation, cutting and clipping, only aggravates 
and intensifies it. * If you wished to kill a tree, you 
would be called insane to begin by cutting off here 
and there a small limb; for many more would 
spring out where you had cut off the one. But 
this is the very manner in which Church and State 
are pruning away at this evil. We must strike at 
the root of the tree ; at man more, and woman not 



MAN THE CAUSE. 215 

at all. It would be infinitely better to let Prostitu- 
tion entirely alone. 

It is the man who invests money in Prostitution, 
because he demands Prostitution of woman. With- 
out man's demand and money, there would be no 
such thing as Prostitution in the world. But the 
Church and State cry out : " Abomination ! unclean ! 
the harlot must be put down ! whoredom must be 
squelched !" leveling the shaft at the harlot, but not 
at the men who make, and the institutions which 
support her. 

As a class, prostitutes have much business tact. 
They are by no means devoid of sense. As a class, 
they are the most business women of the w^orld. 
They know how to defend and advertise their pro- 
fession. It is notoriety they seek ; and while they 
know they must advertise, they are willing to pay 
for the advertisement. IN'ow, as no proprietor of a 
newspaper w^ould be justified in publishing their 
cards, giving name and location, and as no minister 
would be guilty of announcing them from the palpit, 
they contrive to get published in both paper and 
pulpit. The harlot, therefore, manages to get into 
a police or recorder's court; and there, before a 
crowd of men who have congregated to gain knowl- 
edge, gives her name and the number of her house, 
unveils her face, answers such questions as are put 
to her in such a manner as she thinks will win the 
admiration of the men around her, pays her fine 
and goes back to her house or rooms, well satisfied. 



216 THE SOCIAL EVIL. 

The morning paper comes to her hand, and there 
she sees her name and location shining out in a 
local, as a part of the consideration which the public 
return, for what the law had but yesterday taken 
from her. If there be anything startling or appall- 
ing connected with this, the local contains it, and 
the minister takes his text therefrom, and publishes 
her loudly and long in the pulpit. If he mentions 
no name, his congregation have read the local, and 
know whom he means. 

It is thus the Law says: "Put down Prostitu- 
tion!" then seizes hold of the harlot, who is de- 
manded and made by man's lust and money, holds 
her up to the gaze of hundreds of lustful eyes, and 
charges her a small pittance for the advertisement. 
In this way the State largely increases prostitution ; 
not only by increasing the demand, by awakening 
the passions of men, but by advertising so thor- 
oughly the harlot. I^Tow, the church is as dumb as 
a sepulchre as to the cause of Prostitution. J^o 
word is uttered against the man who demands the 
degredation of woman. I^o word against the insti- 
tutions, the Church and the State, which support, 
publish, and produce Prostitution. Man is the 
cause; but he rules Church and State, and selfish- 
ness blinds his eyes. He does not see that it is his 
tyranny and lust, and only these, which produce the 
evil he so boldly denounces. He looks abroad in 
society, and waxes wroth; he would tear down the 
evil, and trample it under his heel. He gathers 



THE DRAGON'S TEETH. 217 

hold of the prostitute and rends her in pieces, and 
buries her in dishonor. But from her dead body 
arise many to fill her place. From the teeth of 
the dragon he thought he had killed and buried, 
arise an army to war against him. Society must 
strike right, or not strike at all. Prostitution is 
true to itself. It has the seeds of death within it. 
But if a warfare be waged against it, the battle-ax 
must be leveled at the full front of man. E'o 
woman must be touched, it matters not how vile. 
Hew down the man who is patronizing, in any form, 
the sale of woman's virtue. Bray him in the mortar 
of public condemnation; make him lift the heel of 
tyranny from the neck of woman, no matter how 
high or how low he may stand in society. The 
prostitute is not to blame for being made a prosti- 
tute by man; she is born of society, and may be 
the product of either sin or error. The fool is not 
to blame for being born a fool ; neither is the fool 
nor the prostitute lost in the economy of G-od's 
method of teaching the race. God has need of the 
fool to teach parents how to make a wise child, 
without running risks of idiocy or disease. He has 
need of the slave and the prostitute to teach the 
world's statesmen wisdom. He has need of the 
thief for a hundred lessons in regard to property. 
He has need of the murderer, and every other 
abnormal phase of man, to lead the world on to 
wisdom and up to virtue. 

Go into our cities, and look at the brothels which 



218 TEE SOCIAL EVIL. 

stare both Cliurcli and State full in tlie face. Well 
may they veil their faces in shame before the bald 
front of this polluted monster, bred in the great 
black sea of despotism. Society has in it great 
rivers of vice, down which often float the noblest 
and fairest flowers of our mountains and hillsides, 
plucked from their homes by destroying hands. 
They are set afloat on the stream, and their course 
must be ever downward, till they are swallowed up 
in the mighty maelstrom of our Social Evil. The 
State looks on and laughs; the Church scowls and 
looks black at it ; folds up its sacerdotal robes, and 
often, on tip-toe, passes by on the other side. The 
statesman loses his daughter on the dark tide ; the 
minister another daughter flower, sent down on the 
dark river. Fear and pride strike these fair daugh- 
ters dumb; shame hides them away from the world, 
and they go down, in a few short years, to the silent 
halls of death, the victims of Church and State. 
God has need of the statesman's and minister's 
daughters, going thus down to death, joining their 
fellow-sisters in the world's great carnival of Lust, 
from which they never return, to teach the State 
and the Church that woman has the same right to 
life, liberty and occupation that man has; and it 
seems that it is only Prostitution, in the councils of 
Almighty God, that will abolish the tyranny of man 
over woman. No ; it is not the slave who must be 
killed to abolish slavery, nor the prostitute who 
must be harmed to destroy Prostitution. The world 



CAUSE OF FAILURE. 219 

is full of lessons already taught on tliis subject. 
Many times has both Church and State been sunk 
in the great black sea of Prostitution, blotting them 
out forever. 

§. 3. But it matters not how the Law seizes hold 
of the slave and victim; whether in ire to crush or 
in sympathy to save; the result must ever be failure, 
because it aims at the effect, not the cause of the 
evil. We submit the following from the I^ew York 
Tribune : 

"FALLEN WOMEN IN BOSTON. 

"Boston, June 21, 1870. — The arrest of a large 
number of fallen women in Boston created a decided 
sensation throughout the country about six weeks 
ago. When these women were brought before the 
court, many of them were placed upon probation, 
through the efforts of Chief Savage. At noon 
to-day Chief Savage appeared in the municipal 
court, before Chief Justice Bacon, to render an 
account of his stewardship. In opening the case, 
Chief Savage made the following address: 

"^ May it please your Honor: Some six weeks 
ago we had the unpleasant duty to present to this 
court a large number of complaints of a peculiar 
character, which we believe requires peculiar treat- 
ment. There are those who seem to think there is 
no hope for fallen woman. The police do not 
believe it. While we have little sympathy with the 
willful, plotting, hardened criminal, we believe that 
in many cases these women are victims rather than 
principals in crime; and that wholesome restraint, 
useful employment, kind treatment and encourage- 
ment will save some of them. Acting upon this 
belief, we came here to ask your Honor to pursue 



220 THE SOCIAL EVIL. 

an unusual course. We asked you to impose the 
restraint by placing before them the gates of a 
prison, yet giving them one more chance of escape, 
while we would have the opportunity to try the 
experiment of kind treatment and encouragement. 
And please allow me here the opportunity to thank 
you and all good people for the wise, humane course 
pursued on that occasion. In entering upon Hhe 
experiment' on that day, we promised you that 
such as had homes we would send them there, and 
such as had none we would provide them with 
homes ; and we told you that kind hearts and open 
hands would furnish the means. In this last, I 
assure you, we have not been disappointed; and we 
are here to-day, your Honor, to render the first 
account of our stewardship. Of the number ar- 
rested on that occasion, Fathers Cook, CuUen and 
the police took special charge of one hundred and 
thirteen. Twenty-five were put on probation 
before the opening of court, and eighty- eight, 
pleading guilty, were also bailed for future appear- 
ance, giving them all one more opportunity for 
reformation. 

"'Up to this time we have sent home to parents aud friends living out of the city.. 49 

Sent home to parents aud friends in the city 7 

To places of respectable employment out of city 5 

In places of respectable employment in city 10 

Sent to charity home temporarily 5 

Sent to insane asylum 1 

Sick at her old abode 1 

Surrender by bail 5 

Whereabouts unknown 22 

To be accounted for 8 

Total 113 

" ' Your Honor, we have spared no pains in this 
work, and good people have come forward with 
their aid and encouragement. It is not all that 
we could wish, yet I trust something has been done 
to justify 'the experiment' If we save but one, 
were she my daughter or yours, we would think it 
worth all the labor.' 

" Chief Justice Bacon replied to these remarks 



AN EXPERIMENT. 221 

by saying : * that the course taken by the court, in 
reference to these cases, appeared to be the best 
that could be taken, and gave the best promise of 
suppressing this social evil, which is so flagrant. It 
was taken with the understanding that each indi- 
vidual case should be looked after, and he should 
now inquire if the process of law had been duly 
respected.' The individual cases were then called, 
as assigned, and reports as to the condition and 
prospects of each were given. Some of the women 
were present to answer, and others were responded 
for by Chief Savage, or some member of the 
police force. The several cases were then continued 
or defaulted, according to the merits of the cases. 
The report of the Chief shows very gratifying suc- 
cess in this noble reformatory work, and all good 
citizens will rejoice at the result of the experiment." 

The above effort to save through sympathy is 
surely commendable in spirit, but it can only be 
calamitous in result. !N^ature has never been known 
to heal a great evil in this way. An individual may 
be saved, but the evil itself not only remains, but is 
intensified. 

It is said the above method is one of experiment; 
yet it is an experiment as old as the tyranny of man 
over woman. A fretful and cross parent has been 
known to beat and lacerate a child, and then, in 
tears and sympathy, hug and kiss the child, and ask 
its forgiveness. Man himself will ruin woman, 
pollute and curse, and make woman join him in the 
curse he has wrought upon her. He will cast her 
into the ruin of bodily pollution, and then, in tears 
of sympathy, try to save her from the death of the 



222 THE SOCIAL EVIL, 

pit. And he will call this an experiment, which 
haply may lead him to wisdom. But no wisdom 
will be enacted till he learns that man, and not 
woman, is the cause of her ruin. It is pure Eeason, 
and not emotion, which has led the world on to 
wisdom and virtue. It is the emotional nature of 
man which has brought prostitution, and keeps it 
and propagates it in society. It is sense, not sym- 
pathy, man must exhibit in his dealing with woman. 
In the above experiment, the Golden E,ule is set up 
as the law which is to lead to good. But what is 
the meaning of the experiment? What is pro- 
claimed by this course of action? Why, simply 
this: "Let us save one, if by saving her we slay a 
thousand who are yet innocent." It would be far 
better for the world to take each " fallen " daughter 
who is to be thus saved, and substitute in the place 
of this sympathetic treatment a public scaffold and 
guillotine, and before the assembled male prosti tu- 
tors of Boston, strike off head after head of these 
victim-daughters, and, having stuck their heads 
upon pikes, place them at each street crossing, and 
write thereunder: 

5^- THE PEOSTITUTE!-^a 

THIS IS THE PRICE OF MAN'S LUST ! 
THIS IS WHAT MAN DEMANDS OF WOMAN.' 

Although this would by no means* cure the evil, it 
might make men think. There is a deadly dearth 
of thought on this subject of Prostitution, and until 



SYMPATHY CANNOT SAVE. 223 

men begin to think, there is no hope for woman. 
They are doomed to the blind action of Emotion. 
Sympathy, fideUty, rehgion, are powerless to save. 
It is the god of the head, Science, which can only 
save. The Emotions are the blind forces which 
drive men to action. They are the steam in the 
engine. Reason must evolve from acquired knowl- 
edge the science of action, mark out the way, and 
guide therein. It is not Emotion; it is rational, 
logical thought the world lacks. The evil of Pros- 
titution will be kept standing, forever pointing with 
finger of Death down to hell; and army after army 
of "fallen" women will march thitherward, deaf to 
the entreaties and lamentations of fathers, mothers, 
husbands, lovers, till manldnd tJiink. Some terrible 
event connected Avith this evil must occur which 
will react against the cause ; which will grind man, 
not woman, beneath the car of Prostitution. 

There is a sublime virtue and manly duty stand- 
ing out in the act of that old Roman, Yirginius, 
killing his "own dear little girl" rather than see 
her made a prey to the lust of Appius Claudius. 
This made Romans think. Appius Claudius went 
down. The thought, however, took the direction 
of politics; not of the Social Evil. The civilized 
world must be made to think in this direction. The 
police of Boston may have been actuated by the 
highest and purest motives; but for every "fallen" 
woman they thus remove from Boston Lust, that 
insatiable Lust will have its new victim, its fresh 



224 THE SOCIAL EVIL. 

fallen virgin guilt. A hundred other daughter 
flowers must be plucked from the E'ew England 
hillsides, for each hundred that are withdrawn from 
the greedy lust of Boston men. As long as the 
mill is grindijig, it must he fed. If what comes out 
from the bolt is spoilt and damaged, — unfit for the 
bread of life, though originally good as it went into 
the hopper, — it had better be turned back into the 
hopper again and again, rather than have an endless 
supply of pure grain spoiled, and then continually 
thrown out as useless. This mill of Prostitution 
will grind up ten thousand as readily as ten, and 
ten will supply it as easily as ten hundred. 

Man must be made to feel the terrible necessity 
of self-control ; and when Prostitution strikes away 
a virgin daughter, the anguish which prostrates 
him to earth is only to drive him into thought, and 
wring out of the flesh in agony the Science of Life. 
He must know that the cause is in man, not woman. 
The disease, the lust, or necessity, is coursing in the 
veins of man. The fire of this hell is in his blood. 
Here is the sexual waste. Here is the demand. This 
demand is a force which compels its own worship, 
and Tyranny riots with his slaves. Want and Wor- 
ship are the paths which lead to his embrace. 

As selfishness forever blinds, perhaps nothing 
will be accomplished in the right direction till 
woman, who is the slave and victim, is taught to 
see her true condition. Want is now educating her 
very fast. She still wants more torture to strengthen 



EDUCATE THE FRONTAL LOBES. 225 

the frontal lobes. It is through torture she can only 
become wise in all the affairs of Church and State. 
She must be made to realize the force of an idea ; to 
fear a cause and profit by an effect. She must be 
made to think science. The science of life grows 
from within ; no process of filling up from without 
will answer. Till one becomes scientific from 
within, no experience of others will do him any 
good. Not until woman becomes truly scientific, 
will she apply the Science of Life to the reproduction 
of the race. ISTot until her front head controls the 
emotions, will any permanent good be done towards 
her redemption. When woman has learned her 
own responsibility as mother, before she is a 
mother, then, and not till then, will she be fully pre- 
pared to grapple with Prostitution and put it under 
her foot. 

That Prostitution is now on the increase, we do 
not doubt. It must continue to grow and fester in 
the flesh of society till the Science of Life has been 
evolved from it. When this science shall crown 
the life of woman, then will Prostitution gradually 
diminish, and in the course of ages finally disap- 
pear. It requires time to improve a generation of 
men, because the improvement is to be made only in 
the application of the principles of breeding. The 
disease is to be bred out, not cut out, nor healed by 
soft ointments applied to the living organism. The 
world wants wise mothers, as the true doctors of the 
race. But in the mean time let the prostitute alone, 
P 



226 THE SOCIAL EVIL. 

Touch tier not as a prostitute, it matters not how vile. 
If Prostitution must be struck, strike the man who 
patronizes, in any manner, the sale of woman's 
virtue. 



THREE LECTURES. 



LECTURE. 

SALVATION AND DAMNATION BEFORE BIRT^H. 

People are not made better in a moment of time. 
They are not changed in the twinkling of an eye 
from corruption to the incorruptible, as declared the 
sage of Tarsus. There is no maneuvering of an 
unseen hand that can, by magic, turn hatred, lying, 
lust and disease of man, into love, truth, purity and 
health. According to the world's theology, after 
thousands of years, God has not succeeded in re- 
claiming the Devil. In this is couched a greater 
defect than the creeds of Christendom will admit; 
for behold ! millions of devils might be turned into 
millions of saints, by changing the heart of the 
Devil. 

There is no convertion that can transform a 
human-born devil into an angel of purity. You 
may put upon him the livery of heaven, but he will 
be devil still. You may put the lamb's fleece upon 
the wolf's back; nay, you may nurse him from 
infancy on sheep's milk, but this will not give him 



230 LECTURE. 

the lamb's disposition. Tlie lamb's flesh will only 
taste the sweeter to him after having been deprived 
of it so long. How useless for us to profess other 
than we are; our actions will only throw back the 
lie into our teeth, and everybody will cry: "You 
wear a garment other than your own.'' 

It is, perhaps, because men and women are not 
made better in a moment of time, after professing 
some doctrine, — Atheism, Spiritualism or Chris- 
tianity, — that people who disbelieve in Atheism, 
Spiritualism or Christianity, are apt to cry out: 
"What good!" not so much against the people 
themselves, as against the doctrine they profess. 

l^ow the mere fact of professing anything, never 
makes the person any better. I do not see that a 
Methodist is any better than a Campbellite, or Bap- 
tist; or Congregation alist. Spiritualist, Atheist, or 
Infidel. Honesty and dishonesty are found in and 
outside of all church organizations ; among believ- 
ers of creeds, and scoffers at creeds. Arrogance, 
pride, meanness, are found wherever great bodies of 
men and women congregate ; and meekness, no- 
bility, and goodness, are also found everywhere 
among men and women. Even a life-long profes- 
sion of any particular faith, creed or dogma, never 
makes the person any better ; with or without it, the 
vile are vile ; the pure are pure. The Devil has been 
a Christian now these two thousand years, and still 
he is prone to the same old tricks of envy, fraud, 
deception, war and lust. The Church makes woman 



ANTE-NATAL INFLUENCES. 231 

no better as wife and mother; man no better as 
busband and father; yet, in the relations of hus- 
band and wife, and parent and child, the world must 
be redeemed. 

How superficial are the religious dogmas of the 
world. The creed commands a belief, not the 
righteous act; a doctrine, not a fact of the soul. 
The Christian asserts that the children of God are 
created by Christ Jesus in the church, not by parents 
in holy wedlock ; that salvation is by grace alone, 
not through God's unalterable laws of pro-creation ; 
and that instantaneous and miraculous regeneration 
is to be forever needed on earth, long after the 
person is born ; not that a person generated right in 
the first place is all sufficient. The fact is, a belief 
that an instantaneous conversion will save and re- 
generate the race, is now what is literally damning 
it, past the redemption of forty generations of the 
wisest and noblest effort. 

Great changes in religion and politics are brought 
about slowly. Age after age the rights of man 
have been taught as expressed by Jefferson; and, 
yet, age after age they have been trampled upon by 
rulers and people. The Golden Rule has been 
taught by the wisest and greatest men since the 
earliest recora; yet, it is not practiced to-day in 
Church and State. How long it took America to 
abolish slavery, and how bloody the work. It was 
an institution deeply rooted in our soil, and fostered 
there by Church and State, recognized in the Con- 



232 LECTURE. 

stitution of tlie nation, and supported by nearly 
every ChriBtian denomination. It was founded in, 
and defended upon Ancient Authority — Holy Writ. 
Polygamy flourishes in American soil to-day; not 
extensively among an ignorant and debased people ; 
not among African importations, nor Asiatic migra- 
tions ; but among the highest type of man, of Cau- 
casian blood, of Saxon head, of civilized birth and 
modern culture, claiming, too, the peculiar and fas- 
cinating title of Christian. So you see the world 
has not yet got past the example of the patriarch, 
and Jewish greatest and wisest rulers. Yet, po- 
lygamy is gradually dying out, not through wars of 
opposition and force, but silently, through Nature. 
Polygamy shows there is something rotten in the 
marriage relation, and itself contains some truth, 
else it would not be. So of Prostitution, which 
vexes and scourges the land. To this foul goddess 
are sacrificed, often, the first, the brightest and fairest 
sons and daughters of the world's civiUzation. This 
only shows what horrid crimes against l^ature and 
Grod's laws are committed under sanction of man's 
laws and hoary-headed custom. 

Much has been done to better the condition of 
man in the world. Revolutions have righted old 
and time-honored wrongs. Liberty has been bap- 
tized often anew, invoking therein the name of 
some new and unpopular god. The genius of man 
has brought ease to muscles of toil, through count- 
less labor saving machines. Thought brooding over 



ANTE-NATAL INFLUENCES. 233 

the world of matter and force, has produced science, 
which now comes with promised healing in its 
wings ; but it is extremely slow and waits on Evil. 
The world now, as of old, is sick and needs a phy- 
sician. Alas ! Jesus has been preached now these 
eighteen hundred years, and yet the world is dying 
of soul sickness and many a loathsome malady, and 
to-day needs a Savior greater than a Jesus. Man- 
kind are daily stumbling into the fiery hells of pol- 
lution, and no where to be found is the Christ's 
blood that can wash them pure. They are victims 
through ignorance, of the "Flesh and the Devil 
therein." 

To the scientific the reason is quite obvious. 
The evils which afifect the world are radical. They 
are rooted in the flesh of mankind. They cannot 
be pulled out in a moment of time like a decayed 
tooth. They are so rooted there, that the best 
breeding of forty generations would not remove 
them from the world. The diseases of the world 
are only healed in the slow processes of J^ature, age 
after age improving but slightly on the past. 

Now there is but one way to convert the sinner ; 
there is but one way to reach the greatest possible 
good of the race, and save the world, or make of it 
what God designs ; and that is to improve the child. 
This can be done in but one way ; understanding 
how to produce it. This knowledge will raise mar- 
riage to the dignity of a science. It will paint 
Cupid with eyes, and not, as now and with the an- 



234 LECTURE. 

dents, blind. That is, our love must look througli 
reason prospectively to the child long before mar- 
riage. In this the sciences of Physiology and Biology, 
and a proper knowledge of human temperaments, 
will work wonders; for upon these a proper and har- 
monious marriage must be based. Then, after mar- 
riage, the child must be planned long before it is 
born. Till this wisdom comes and this care is ob- 
served, ITature will torture mankind with crime and 
idiocy born into the flesh, which nothing but Death 
can eradicate. After birth the child's education is 
but a secondary consideration ; it is an after thought, 
it may be a help if applied rightly, but can never 
change the fundamental work which has been done 
for the child before birth. From poor materials the 
mechanic can only construct a poor work, however 
good the design. The parents are the architects and 
mechanics of their own children, constructing them 
out of their own bodily forces. And the teacher 
only develops what is in the child; he produces 
nothing. The illy-begotten child can never after- 
wards be fashioned to act a good life; the well- 
begotten child can be guided aright. E"o one ever 
cursed father or mother without just cause, and 
thousands there are who have done it, and will con- 
tinue to do it. 

To lastingly benefit the world, then, we must go 
back of the disease to the cause, and not attempt to 
accomplish everything immediately, nor in the first 
thousand years. We must act for coming genera- 



ANTE-NATAL INFLUENCES. 23S 

tions in scientific breeding. We must do in this 
regard what Jefferson did for politics, what Jesus 
did for ethics, — enact a principle into the life of 
people. I sometimes think these two men must 
have been born far superior to most men of their 
respective ages; made well before birth in body and 
mind. These two men will be better understood a 
thousand years hence, unless an intellectual and 
moral blight seizes upon the race. Doubtless Jesus 
whispered into the ear of Jefferson the American 
idea. It is God's gospel applied to politics. And 
Thomas Paine was certainly our political " John the 
Baptist," who came preaching in the American 
wilderness, saying: "Repent, for the Republic is 
at hand, and the Kingdom in the world's politics 
will soon pass away; for kings and noblemen of 
only inherited wealth and position have heard the 
crack of doom." But one kind of nobleman there 
is in the world of true sterling worth, and that is 
God's nobleman, born sound in mind and body; 
born into harmony with the best conditions of life. 
But there are degrees of harmony and sound- 
ness. These measure the man. Man's nobility can 
never be measured in bodily strength and mental 
calibre. This is evident when we consider the great 
and general laws which govern the race. But one 
political law has God enacted in the constitution of 
the race: "The equal right to use normally the 
unequal powers of mind and body;" and one moral 
law has he enacted, which is virtually the same aa 



236 LECTURE, 

the other: "Do unto others as you would have 
them do to you;" and one physical and mental 
fact forever comes with stunning effect upon us: 
"As a man is made before birth, so is he." A 
bible writer expressed the same thought when he 
said: "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he." 
As the thief thinketh, so is he; as the profligate 
thinketh, so is he; as the idiot thinketh, so is he. 
Yet, who made the fool and the villain? This is a 
question which ought to make every mother's son 
and daughter think many a serious hour. It ought 
to trouble them many an hour of many a day. 

To understand this question aright, we must 
look about us a little, and draw such just conclu- 
sions as the facts of ISTature will warrant. 

If we look abroad, we see imperfection every- 
where. Even an oak tree cannot grow a perfect 
and ideal oak. When yet a little bush it is trod on 
by man or animal, and made to grow crooked. 
The soil is not deep, and the rocks prevent the 
roots from going down deep for nourishment, and 
it is dwarfed during life. The winds blow off many 
a limb ; the prairie fires scorch it often ; the freshets 
uncover its roots; or the drouth withholds the 
nourishment of the skies, and it stands a crooked, 
gnarled, and dwarfed tree. The acorn from which 
it came might have been of an inferior and dwarfed 
kind, and so inferiority of stock added to meanness 
of culture. But if the acorn had fallen in richer 
soil, in a more congenial spot, where the circum- 



ANTE-NATAL INFLUENCES. 237 

stances were the most favorable to the growth of 
the oak, and it had been of the best variety of seed, 
then another and far better tree would have been 
the result. Here we say the blind forces of ITature 
were favorable to its growth, whereas, in the first 
instance, they were unfavorable. Here is only a 
play of blind forces, with no special design behind 
them, for the good of the coming oak. But man 
is a curious force; he is a tabernacle of design, 
wherein dwells a god. ^ow let him take the acorn 
from its forest home, where it had fallen, perhaps, 
into the crevice of a rock ; bear it away to a deep, 
rich alluvial soil; plant it therein; fence it away 
from the tread of animals ; dig about it ; guard it 
from fire; water it during drouth, and it grows 
rapidly in beauty and grace. i^Tow the winds only 
strengthen its body and make it take deeper root, 
and all Nature seems to add to its growth, as it goes 
on from day to day, 'mid sunshine and storm, 
prophesying of good materials to some coming 
generation of man. 

What is the legitimate conclusion from these 
facts ? Why, surely, that God designs the best to 
the oak only through the conscious thought of man. 
The oak tree can be perfected only through man. 
As the acorn fell in the forest by the force of gravity, 
so will it lie. It may be removed by the rains, or 
carried off by the squirrel, but with no design to 
make of it a perfect oak, in accordance with the 
informing law of the acorn. Man picks it up with 



238 LECTURE. 

such a design, and God operating in man, by and 
through this mental force, reaches the perfect end in 
design. Here man can overcome gravity through 
the force of will, in conscious design. Knowledge 
and design are the ideal forces of the universe, which 
mould, form and construct in the material world 
material things and objects, and must, eventually, 
make all material laws, or the blind forces of the 
world, subservient to them. It is in man's conscious 
thought that the oak tree is perfected. The perfect 
oak must take root in the brain before it does in the 
earth. It must be transplanted from the head to be 
depended upon. This is the highest act of creation; 
the creative act. What is creating? Moving mat- 
ter into new forms. This may be done blindly in 
accordance with Natural law, or through design, 
foretelling the result. In this, the highest sense, 
man is a creator. 

Would you create an oak tree ? You pick up an 
acorn which only contains the antecedents of growth; 
the pent-up forces of ancestral oaks. You have within 
your hand the law, but within your mind the ideal 
oak and the conditions of perfect growth. You 
may speak life or death to the ideal fact which the 
material acorn represents. You may control the 
fact of the oak's future existence or non-existence 
by planting the acorn in good soil, or by casting it 
into the fire and roasting it. Now, if you roast it, 
God Almighty could not make an oak tree from 
that acorn. And, why? Because the force of fire 



ANTE-NATAL INFLUENCES, 289 

drove away the living principle of the acorn, de- 
stroying the temple in which it dwelt. The angel 
of Death drove out the angel of Life. In other words, 
the material conditions of the incarnate oak were 
destroyed, and conditions always govern growth. 
If God could make something from nothing, then 
man could make oak trees from roasted acorns, or 
potatoes out of mud balls. There is a God's law 
governing growth, or all change. This law is un- 
changeable. "Which means that God never works 
contrary to his established laws. If he did he would 
be inconsistent; and we could count on nothing as 
certain in the universe. There would be no Science, 
no such thing as Truth. But man often works con- 
trary to God's laws, and in his ignorance, often asks 
God to counteract his own commands. But this 
may be depended upon; if the whole world of man- 
kind should all get down on bended knee, at one 
moment, and ask God to sprout the roasted acorn, 
he would continue about his business, regardless of 
the united prayers of the world. So much more 
value is the law by which he sprouts one little acorn 
than all the prayers of earth. Kor would he change 
the law, that the oak when grown will produce after 
its kind with a generic likeness, but an individual 
variation. ]S"o prayer could produce any change 
therein. Figs from thorns, and grapes from thistles, 
we frequently find expressed in man's laws and 
prayers, never in God's laws or actions. In the 
roasted acorn the law, by which the oak tree is pro- 



240 LECTURE, 

duced from the acorn, had been annulled and it could 
never be prayed back to operate in that acorn. The 
conditions of the future oak had been destroyed; 
no other conditions in the universe would answer. 

But suppose, instead of roasting the acorn, you 
plant it ; it sprouts and grows thriftily for two years, 
when you throw upon its tender and frail body a 
rail, leaving it bent half-way to earth for two years 
more. You then remove the rail and endeavor to 
straighten it. All endeavor, all fervor of prayer is 
in vain. It was inconsistent with God to grow a 
straight tree with a rail on the slender and frail 
twig. And because inconsistent, impossible for him 
to do otherwise. The law of perfect growth in the 
oak had been violated and it was compelled to grow 
crooked. Thus many a person's after life has been 
made crooked before birth, and God's laws vin- 
dicated therein. Hence, we say; that which is not 
consistent with the perfect and infinite Force of the 
universe, has not arisen through any design therein. 
We say the idiot is not inconsistent with God's laws 
of producing mankind, only inconsistent with the 
law of producing sound men and women. The 
idiot is the slender sprout with a rail on it, bending 
its head to earth, l^ov does God fail in producing 
the idiot ; for, from this defect of the head, people 
are driven to study God's laws of producing sound 
heads, and mankind are benefitted through the 
science of Reproduction. 

But to return to the chief function of man in the 



ANTE-NATAL INFLUENCES. 241 

world. We have said : it is in man's conscious 
thought that the oak tree is perfected. In fact, 
there can be nothing perfected or made to improve 
with a perceptible growth, without man. Take the 
fruits of the world. It was lu the mind of man that 
the Early Harvest, and Golden Pippin, and Russet, 
and Belle-flower and Wine-sap, were made. With- 
out man it was only possible for God to grow, in the 
long ages, the wild crab-apple and hawthorn. Man 
took the wild apple, administered to its growth and 
schooled it in the way it should grow, year after 
year, and age after age, till he made himself an 
article of food, as God designed. How many ages 
passed in which God only grew crab-apples, because 
no dust quickened by scientific knowledge to perfect 
what he had begun, is known only to infinite intelli- 
gence. So it is with the berries of the wood or 
prairie, they are only perfected by man in the gar- 
dens of culture. A few hundred years of culture 
by man has raised the potato from an almost unpal- 
atable esculent up to one of the chief supports of 
human life. Man took it while yet imperfect, just 
where God had left it in the wilds of Peru and the 
Carolinas, and went on with what he had begun to 
perfect it. Without man on earth, God could not 
make a perfect potato. Neither can God grow 
perfect corn nor wheat, nor aught that grows for 
man's support or pleasure, without man's imple- 
ments of sharpened steel, baptized in the sweat of 
holy toil. Even the flowers of the field bloom 
Q 



242 LECTURE, 

fresher, witli more lively tints, and yield a richer 
perfume, within a few generations, under the per- 
fecting hand of man. 

So it is with the animal world. God could not 
make a perfect cow or horse, without the result oi 
man's knowledge, applied with the conscious design 
to perfect or improve them through the principles 
of good breeding. The Arab is choice of his steed, 
given him from the hand of Allah; but he himselt 
has added a third to its speed, over that which God 
had conferred, by bringing together favorable qual- 
ities in mother and sire; bettering the foal in man's 
head, through care and thought, and often in ex- 
periments which failed. This is only taking hold 
of Mature, and making her obedient to the will of 
man. And now, so perfect has become the Science 
of Breeding, that man takes the powers of creation 
in his own hands, and makes a horse to suit his 
purpose, whether of strength or speed. So, too, of 
the ox kind, he makes an animal to produce the 
most beef or milk, or best for the yoke, to suit his 
purpose. Without man it is possible for God to 
make of the ox kind only the Buffalo, — in all parts 
of the world the same in color and disposition, and 
almost the same in size and shape. John Sebright 
said, with respect-to the color and shape of pigeons : 
he could produce any given feather in three years, 
but it would take him six years to obtain head and 
beak. Here man moulds and paints the animal, 
in accordance with a pattern prescribed. The 



ANTE-NATAL INFLUENCES. 243 

animal world is plastic in his hands; it is the clay 
in the hands of the potter. 

The principle upon which man creates and ma- 
nipulates the world is this : The force which moves 
the variable atom is a unit, and ever tends to per- 
petuate itself, but always varies under new condi- 
tions. Like produces like, under like conditions. 
Man can control the conditions, and vary the 
coming animal, physically and mentally. He thus 
improves the animal or plant in design. First it is 
made better in the Ideal ; then the Ideal is incar- 
nated in flesh. This is the highest form of the 
creative act. 

So you see that in the organic world God could 
not perfect it without man. To state it in another 
form, which is perhaps more scientific: It was im- 
possible for God to perfect the work in animal or 
plant without incarnating himself in man as Science^ 
which is the Christ of the world. So he came 
into man, not suddenly, but slowly and insensibly, 
in long ages of development, in many a faculty, to 
think, to know, to reflect, to plan, to construct, to 
improve, to beautify, to love, to hope, and to aspire 
after the Ideal. The Ideal is the crowning thought. 
It is the image of God in man: the power which 
moves matter into human expressions. And there is 
now in each reflective mind, held up in the Ideal a 
better man or woman than God has yet produced on 
earth. It is said God made man in the "begin- 
ning," and that he made him perfect. It is, perhaps, 



244 LECTURE. 

nearer the truth to say: God has not yet finished 
making man; the job is not complete. Man is a 
growth, not a miraculous and instantaneous creation. 
He is not yet born into the Ideal manhood and 
womanhood. He is still developing; still growing 
day after day, age after age. We see man himself 
by and through the laws which govern life and pro- 
creation, improving the man, into whom God 
breathed the breath of life, and left grossly imper- 
fect. Man surely is his own creator in the highest 
and noblest sense of the term. He is made by an 
eternal covenant co-partner with God for the finish- 
ing and perfecting of earth, plant and animal. 

But how shall man act for his own good ? The 
more knowledge, the higher the life ; the better the 
action, the greater the good. There never was an 
evil or calamity which overtook man but pointed to 
wisdom. The pearl of truth is taken from the heart 
of Evil. Experience is the school in which the 
world learns wisdom. We are herein taught the 
science of living; the science of doing. A few 
generalizations may not be here amiss. 

There are certain principles, the result of subtle 
forces in the universe, which we call material laws; 
such as gravity, the laws of chemistry, light, heat 
and electricity, of birth, growth and decay. These 
laws are constant and fixed. They are the result of 
a blind force, and as effects of such, are irrevocable. 
There is no repeal of, nor appeal from them. These 
forces, for the good of plant and animal, have to be 



ANTE-NATAL INFLUENCES. 245 

overcome or their effects prevented, for they often 
conflict or run counter to each other. The man who 
picked up the acorn in the forest to plant it in his 
field overcame, not the material and fixed law, of 
gravity, which made it fall to earth and would keep 
it there, but the conditions into which gravity had 
forced it. Here a higher force, one of Intelligence 
with a future good in design, overcame the effect of 
those natural conditions which would dwarf, cripple 
or destroy it; these conditions being the result of 
bhnd forces. Man's intelligence must control the 
conditions of his birth and growth, or he becomes 
the result of conflicting blind forces. 

It thus becomes apparent that Harmony is the 
word which expresses the law of all good. To live, 
to grow, to produce good, we must place ourselves 
in harmony with the established laws of the mental 
and material world, and control the conditions of 
life. This is a conflict of mind with matter. It is 
the mental world subduing the material ; it is finding 
out the relation of things and adapting them to each 
other. It is conscious design controlling blind force. 
Gravity has no conscious will-power behind it, for 
any special good to man. Gravity would hurl us 
to earth from the top of a tower, did we not, con- 
sciously, by force of will, through common prudence, 
make our footing sure. The former relates to the 
material world, the latter to the mind. To produce 
harmony, is purely the result of mental force con- 
trolling the conditions of life. 



246 LECTVRE. 

In Dr. Howe's report on idiocy, to the Legisla- 
ture of Massachusetts, in 1848, it is stated that out 
of 359 idiots, only about a quarter of them were 
found to have had temperate parents. Seventeen of 
these were also found to be the children of parents 
closely related by blood. "On examining into the 
history of the seventeen families to which these in- 
dividuals belonged, it was found they had consisted 
in all of ninety-five children ; that of these no fewer 
than forty-four were idiots. Twelve others were 
scrofulous and puny. In one family of eight chil- 
dren, five were idiots." 

"When an idiot comes into a mother's lap, it 
ought to be mourned over as an act of divine prov- 
idence. Yet no one ought to be foolish enough to 
say God created it, and failed. So far as God is 
concerned, the idiot is no more a failure than a 
iJ^ewton. The parents failed, not God. Put a pint 
of whisky into almost any man's stomach, and he 
is for hours a senseless, blubbering idiot, or a raving, 
staggering maniac. A child produced in such a 
mental state, ten to one will be a physical or mental 
wreck ; and almost sure to be, when there is added 
the close relationship by blood. Were this not the 
case, then surely would God fail. For the drunken 
parents, when Reason is dethroned, and Passion hot 
as the fires of hell, must set on fire their children, 
of their own lusts, or fail to light the lamp of intel- 
ligence, because of their own mental darkness, is 



ANTE-NATAL INFLUENCES. 247 

as certain as that God has written the law on tablets 
of flesh and mind, that Like produces Like, 

This is a law of the mental world. Hate begets 
hate. Auger begets anger. Love begets love. 
Jealousy makes the food it feeds on. This is a law 
which is irrevocable. You cannot annul it in the 
legislatures of State, in the councils of Church, nor 
at the family hearthstone. You might as well try 
to vote the icy Labrador into eternal summer, or 
abolish in the councils of Church the sweet influ- 
ences of sun and moon, as to try to produce bright 
and healthy babes from whisky and folly. 

1^0, God does not make the idiot, nor thief, nor 
murderer, nor son of lust, any more than he makes 
a reaper, or threshing machine, or steam saw-mill, 
or any other work of man. It is only an expres- 
sion of the established and eternal laws of mind and 
body, and of the material world, which govern the 
production and operation of steam mill, threshing 
machine, reaper, child of lust, drunkard, murderer, 
thief, idiot. It is upon an eternal principle that the 
steam saw-mill acts; and it matters not to God, 
whether a log or a man is placed in front of the saw; 
it would saw both with a full head of steam on. 
And if the best man on earth was sitting on the 
log, and about to be drawn up to the saw, God 
would not miraculously shut off the steam to save 
him. In all these things, God works only through 
man. He teaches him " How " thorough his failures, 
and points out wisdom in the evils which afflict him. 



248 LECTURE. 

A motlier sitting at her chamber window play- 
ing with her child, a year old, accidentally lets it 
fall out on the stone pavement, twenty feet beneath, 
and it is killed by the fall. Who killed this babe, 
God or the mother ? Let us see. Suppose the 
mother asks a philosopher : "What made my babe 
fall and get killed?" He wisely answers : " Gravity, 
madam, which draws all loose substances to earth. 
There is a certain law, madam, governing the fall- 
ing of bodies." "Well, but who made Gravity?" 
enquires the mother. "]N"obody;" responds the phi- 
losopher; "it is co-eternal with God. Ask as well 
who made God. This for general purposes is a 
blind material force. It acts on all objects. It is 
as instrumental in giving life as producing death. 
It is a blind material force. But mentally you may 
know; and you have maternal love to prompt you 
to common prudence, for the care and safety of your 
child. Had you obeyed the law of your own being, 
you could have saved your child. So you see, 
madam, you are punished for your ignorance or 
lack of prudence, just the same as though it were 
willful, so far as God is concerned in it. Many a 
similar sad catastrophe happens to many a mother's 
child before it is born, madam." " How so ?" in- 
quires the mother. "You remember," says the 
philosopher, " the little foolish child that was such 
an annoyance to its mother, your neighbor, wlio 
long watched it with care, to keep it from falling 
into the fire, or death of all kinds which surrounds 



ANTE-NATAL INFLUENCES. 249 

US ; and that at last it fell from the door-sill, which 
was the death of it. There was an accident, madam, 
at both ends of its life. It was made by accident, 
and wept over; it was born an unwelcome thing, 
and wept over; and accidentally went out of life, 
and wept over. It was nothing but tears to its 
mother. It was a failure from beginning to end, 
madam, entirely an accidental thing. God made 
that child, madam, just as much and no more than 
he kills the man who accidentally blows his own 
brains out with powder and ball. It is in accord- 
ance with the laws of the material world, but in 
violation of the higher law governing human life 
and action." 

Upon this very principle men and women pro- 
duce the bodies and form the characters of their 
children. The forces are constant which produce the 
child, whether healthy or diseased, in body or mind, 
just as gravity is constant which killed the child 
in falling from the window. And the laws which 
are the result of these forces may be studied in the 
failures of pro-creation, no less than in falling towers 
or moving tempests. By contemplating the fool 
and the villain, and by having them thrust upon 
parents and society, people may, at last, be tortured 
into an investigation of the causes of idiocy and 
crime; and this will eventually compel them to study 
the laws of pro-creation so as to learn how to make 
a sound child. 

It is said man is made in the image of God, 



250 LECTURE. 

This is "beggins^ the question," and putting effect for 
cause. It is, perhaps, true, and the world's history 
seems to prove it, that God is made in the exact 
image of each person who has power of mind enough 
to conceive of a God. Should we place before you 
a man who is all diseased without and within, 
covered all over with foul, scrofulous sores, cross- 
eyed, hair-lipped, loose-jointed, knock-kneed, hunch- 
backed ; a physical dwarf, whose head comes almost 
out of his stomach ; who has added to this physical 
imperfection that mental blight called idiocy; soul- 
scarred and sin-stained from his mother's womb, 
and say to you: Ladies and gentlemen, this is man, 
the greatest work of God, made in his own image. 
What kind of a conception would you have of God ? 
What would you think of the wisdom of God in 
creating this imbecile and slobbering idiot? E"o 
doubt the egotism of mankind would be wounded 
were we to say : a monkey is made in the exact im- 
age of God. Yet there are apes in the world far 
superior to some abortions who take the dignified 
title of man. Viewed morally, the case is just as 
bad. Was E"ero, or Yitellius, or Constantine, or 
Jeffreys, or Joshua of old, made in the exact image 
of God ? How, then, about the image of the Devil ? 
It is to us blasphemy to say that God made the idiot 
as an omnipotent work of skill, designing him to be 
perfect, and that therein God failed; or, that the 
idiot is a " freak of ^N'ature," a curse to parents, a 
perfect blot on the human page, produced by causes 



ANTE-NATAL INFLUENCES. 251 

over which parents Lad no control, and that thus 
they are innocent of the child's idiocy, or that God 
intentionally, specially and miraculously made the 
murderer, or thief, or child of lust. These are all 
made by men and women ; all failures in the pro-cre- 
ation of the race. But after they are made by men 
and women, God enacts wisdom therefrom by show- 
ing parents wherein they have failed, and wherein 
they can better the abortive work. God designs 
always to teach wisdom from the failures of man. 
The idiot gawks at his mother, while she weeps over 
the intellectual darkness or mental ruin of her child; 
and God designs that the idiot shall gawk, writhing 
the mother in mental anguish, that women, before 
marriage, may study the child's good long before 
it is born. 

It is an infamous slander on God to say he has 
anything to do directly, in special creative acts, 
with all this army of murderous, thievish, lying, 
lustful, idiotic men and women, whose life germs 
have been perhaps mingled with the drunkard's 
cup; started for earth in currents red with the 
crimes of lust, and spawned into existence in dens 
of vice, or in embellished houses of legalized 
Prostitution. Do not be mistaken ! God has noth- 
ing to do with these births of the world. They are 
accidental products of creative ignorance. They 
are specimens of man's fall. They are the curse of 
his disobedience. They are brought forth in viola- 
tion of God's laws, which he has writ on tablets of 



252 LECTURE. 

flesh, not in harmony with them. And it is the 
Word of God, proclaimed in all I^ature, that he 
intends to have the murderer cut at the throat of 
his mother; the thief to steal the trappings from 
his father's coffin; the idiot to blubber and talk 
gibberish, slavering in the very face of his mother; 
and the child of lust to corrupt the currents of 
human blood, till mankind shall learn wisdom, and 
create the child of good materials, after the ideal 
pattern. This is the cause of the fool and the 
villain, and G-od's design therein. 

The general principle upon which God works, 
is to suspend no law of Nature for the accommoda- 
tion of his choicest child. Man has given him the 
power to make and improve himself, with the means 
of knowledge at his very door. It is for us to do, 
to perfect, to complete what, without our own de- 
sign, could not have been done. The materials 
God furnishes; man fashions them either into a 
house or a child. He makes the rude hut or the 
princely palace, the intellectual giant or the idiot. 
As the animal and vegetable world could not be 
perfected without man, so neither can he himself 
be perfected without his own care and culture. 

The child illy born is the result of man's igno- 
rance, but from the failure he is to learn wisdom. 
This is the order of ]N"ature in all departments of 
life. Man is a growth in knowledge as well as 
structure. We think the Osage Indian holds the 
analogous relation to the most civilized man that 



ANTE-NATAL INFLUENCES. 253 

the crab-apple does to the standard apple of our 
orchards, or that the buffalo does to the Devon or 
Durham of our herds. And as God could only 
grow wild crab-apples and wild buffalo without 
man's care and culture, so also he could only grow 
wild men without their own care and culture in 
their own pro-creation. I^ature brings the animal 
and vegetable up to a certain point by the law of 
natural selection, without any special design. This 
is the blind law of the survival of the strongest in 
the struggle for life. But there is a point at which 
!N'ature stops, and there rests, till man, with design for 
the good of himself, controls the conditions of life, 
and brings the animal and plant to the crowning 
perfection of domestication. Here it is the survival 
of the fittest, not always the strongest. The former 
is in accordance with the blind law of force — the 
survival of the strongest; the latter is in accordance 
with the law of design — the survival of the fittest. 
We think this fact will be admitted before long 
by the religious teachers of the world. Certain we 
are, no permanent good can be done towards man's 
salvation, till it is admitted, and the old theological 
twaddle about binding Satan be stopped. When a 
good race of children is produced, then will Satan 
be bound; then will be the millennium; then will 
the Christ appear. This need not be a thousand 
years hence with the most advanced race; but with 
the whole world it may be many thousands. But 
some families may have the millennium already — 



254 LECTURE. 

doubtless do. A young woman, sound in mind 
and body, finding a suitable matrimonial partner, 
being joined and living in marriage as God designs, 
may bring the millennium within one generation, 
and she herself see the infant Jesus, in her own lap. 
Yerily, this generation would not pass away before 
this were fulfilled in that family established under 
God's laws of marriage. It is more possible for 
heaven and earth to pass away, than for God to de- 
ceive the man and woman of sound mind and body, 
scientifically married, who understand the laws of 
pro-creation, and will live up to them. 

Would you know then the prime cause of the 
fool and the villain ? It is because the child is not 
planned before birth. There is no design to make 
of it a perfect child antecedent to the creative act, 
and without this design in the mind of father and 
mother, the blind forces of ITature are ever ready to 
turn the child into a physical or mental wreck. I 
look upon the perfectly organized child, which is 
yet to come, as a work of art; as much so as the' 
thorough-bred animal which adorns the farmer's 
field or stable. The time will come when thorough- 
bred men and women will be the envied God's 
nobility of earth. The adorning with social "man- 
ners" amounts to but little. This outward culture 
is but the " tinsel and ruffling" which hides all that 
is real. 

The breeder of thorough-bred cattle or horses, 
has a model in the head which he tries to produce 



ANTE-NATAL INFLUENCES. 265 

in flesh. So, also, there is in man, the ideal man 
and woman, better than earth has yet seen, which, 
some day the world will produce, through the con- 
scious thought of man. It is only here in the Ideal 
world that God has created the better man ; yet, by 
no means perfect. The Christian world project this 
ideal conception back to the time of Jesus, and 
worship him as very man, and very God. But they 
are mistaken when they make him a finality of 
human perfection. The world is continually pro- 
ducing her Jesuses after the ideal Jesus of the 
human soul. 

Look at the work of an unknown hand in the 
Apollo Belvidere. That master work of art, pre- 
served from the destroying hand of the barbarian, 
unable to appreciate its beauty and grandeur, has 
come down to us the crowning glory of the Grecian 
thought. And yet it must have fallen far short of 
the ideal perfection which, alone, the artist built in 
his own mind ; for there must be added to this, that 
mental beauty, power and loveliness, which chisel 
cannot carve, and which mind alone can see. When 
we add the greatest moral beauty to the best phys- 
ical form, which mind can fashion in the Ideal, 
then we conceive of man, as God is commanding 
us to create him ; as God is now creating him in us. 

^or can man be bettered save in design; first cre- 
ating a better man in the head before he is put into 
flesh. Suppose you had a hundred thousand dollars to 
invest in the erection for yourself of a business house 



256 LECTURE, 

in some city. You make an estimate that it will 
cost one half of this sum for the materials. So you 
purchase fifty thousand dollars worth of materials : 
so many perches of stone; so many thousand brick; 
so much lumber, iron, glass, nails, lime and sand, 
and pile them all down on the ground together, and 
then set your men to work, to lay stone on stone, 
and brick on brick, without a plan and specifications. 
You have ignored an architect, and have no design 
of your own. Do you think you can construct in 
this way a house with any assurance of success ? A 
million to one it will be a failure. Well, it is just 
the same with the human race. A million to one 
we are failures. But suppose, on the other hand, you 
go to an architect and state your case to him, the 
object of your house and the amount you have to 
invest in it. There is the architect in his little room 
ten by twelve, or less, inside of four bare walls. He 
closes his eyes and looks within. He seems dreamy 
and hates to be disturbed. He locks himself in and 
dwells in silence alone in abstract thought. He is 
building a house without an atom of matter. It 
assumes definite proportions : so many stories high, 
so many feet for each story, so many feet at base, so 
much depth, so many feet for cornice, frieze and en- 
tablature, — the proportions to please the eye, so as 
to make a house of beauty, nay, even imposing and 
grand. Then he runs through its different apart- 
ments and arranges and economizes space, to make 
it commodious and convenient, airy and light; when 



i 



ANTE-NATAL INFLUENCES. 257 

lo ! he has it constructed there in his own head, — an 
edifice far more perfect than you can employ work- 
men, the most skilled and experienced, to put into 
material form ; as it is always impossible to put into 
material form that surpassing real of the Ideal crea- 
tion. The architect draws off, as best he can on 
paper, the edifice with plan and specifications. 
With this your house is no failure, and when fin- 
ished is a model of beauty and convenience. The 
unthinking rabble praise you ; for there is your name 
carved in large letters on its front; but you alone ^ 
know how to appreciate the quiet and obscure arch- • 
itect, who deserves all the praise which the unthink- 
ing millions are bestowing on you. 

Well, fathers and mothers should be the archi- 
tects of their own children. The blind forces of 
xsTature are only the mechanics ; the hewers of wood 
and drawers of water, to be guided by an architect's 
hand. They know nothing of the design; care 
nothing about the beauty, the worth, the life of the 
child. We think the facts of the world will bear 
us out in the assertion, that among the vast millions 
of earth's population the child is neither designed, 
nor scarcely a thought bestowed upon its construc- 
tion. All is left to the blind forces of l!^ature. No 
wonder, then, that the word " failure " is set over 
against the life of so many people of the world. 

Let us look at the office of the mother. Let us 
begin with her before marriage,*when she has not 
yet loved the partner of her life's joys and sorrows. 
E 



258 LECTURE, 

Within her mind should be the Ideal of the man she 
is to wed. This Ideal should be based upon the 
scientific fact that like temperaments should never 
marry. There is much, however, to be learned 
upon the physical and mental adaptation of proper 
marital relations. A law must some day be estab- 
lished, inductively from the evils of marriage. Facts 
are now beginning to accumulate which promise 
great ultimate good. Marriage now stands where 
Astronomy stood in the time of Hipparchus, where 
Geography stood in the time of Cosmas. As the 
Christian god in the time of Copernicus, guarded 
with flaming sword the entrance to the starry world, 
and frightened away all who were disposed to inves- 
tigate, so the god of the hearth- stone drives away 
every scientific intruder. But the bonds of marriage 
are now becoming like flaxen threads in the fire. 
The green withes of early love, dry and rot with age, 
and often fall ofi* the yoked pair unconsciously and 
without a struggle of discord. There is much to be 
learned about proper selections, and much about 
preserving the union after the alliance. But when 
Marriage is raised to the dignity of a science, there 
must be the Ideal of the more perfect pair. This 
Ideal will sift, sort, exclude, reject, till the ideal fact 
is fully satisfied. Then Love will bow at the feet of 
Reason. Woman must know that Love without 
reason is Lust, and is the world's curse from of old. 
Love is like the religious faculty; blind and strong 
as fabled Samson, and stands in society between the 



ANTE-NATAL INFLUENCES. 259 

two pillars of Church and State; and when not 
guided by Reason, would tear down the social fabric 
on its head, destroying thousands in the fall. This 
these two faculties have often done, are still contin- 
uing to do. 

O'h ! young woman, tremble at the first emotion 
of Love. Go into your soul's closet, and pray that 
Reason, and Knowledge, and firmness, and right, 
shall guard you, and guide you into the light which 
Science shall shed on your way. Pray with the 
head that divinest of all prayers, that Knowledge 
may come in there and bless you ; pray with the 
prospective thought that icife may bring to you joy 
or pain untold, and that mother shall be to you 
heaven or hell on earth. Be aware of the fact that 
in your body shall circulate the materials, sound or 
unsound, of your child's mechanism ; that 3'our 
bodily health and strength shall be imparted to it; 
that disease and bodily imperfection may also pass 
from your veins into its own structure; that over- 
work, toil and drudgery will descend in weakness, 
also; that the impress of your own soul may be 
stamped on the mind of the child; that goodness, 
purity, peace and love, may bring an angel of your 
own into your lap ; or Murder, which is in your 
thought, may wait to strike through the hand of the 
child you shall bear; that your dissipation may riot 
in debauch long after you are dead, in your own ofl> 
gpring; or the villainy of the man you wed may 
image back his secret social crimes, iji the child j^ou 



260 LECTURE, 

long may have to weep over. Oh! mother, thy 
office is always the holiest, yet may be the vilest on 
earth. Mothers of the world, from thy womb 
ascend the angels of heaven or descend the devils 
of Hell. Thou art the Savior or the Destroyer of 
the children of Time. No power hast thou, like 
fabled Chronos, to devour thy own unruly children. 
They come back to curse, to fight, to torture you, 
and from them you can never flee away ; or they 
come like a fairy band, wreathing the blessings of 
heaven on thy head, and playing sweet melodies on 
harps strung with the cords of thy affections. 

Man, do you think you understand the duties 
of husband and father ? Is your wife a slave crouch- 
ing at your feet ? Do you hold that she shall come 
and go at your bidding; that she was made to 
minister to you, and that this is the sole purpose 
for which she.was designed? Do you believe that 
there was any special curse pronounced upon her, 
as that, her desire shall be unto you, and you shall 
rule over her? Do you believe that she is only a 
necessary appendage to man, a thing by which he 
is to people the earth, and which is to satisfy his lusts? 
Then woe to the world because of you. From 
your loins come Polygamy, Rape, Prostitution. 
These image back your own domestic life, and re- 
flect the darkness of your soul. Under your rule 
the black artist of hell finds life pictures to paint. 
Under your rule Disease, Murder, Lust, leap from 
your own heart into your children's veins, and lurk 



ANTE-NATAL INFLUENCES. 261 

there like robbers of the highway, under cover of 
wood or night, to again strike down their victim. 

We look upon woman as the equivalent of man, 
who as wife has the right to her own body, and as 
mother has the right to dictate terms to the father 
of her children, and to resist the unhallowed abuse 
which she always receives when a slave to hina. In 
short, we look upon woman truly enhghtened, and 
raised to the dignity of a free human being, as the 
Savior of the race. We worship at the shrine of 
Mother; one who understands the functions of her 
office; one who understands the relation she sus- 
tains to her child, and the child to the race; one 
who fully comprehends the awful consequences of 
ignorance, sin or error, when an immortal soul is 
charged up to her account. We honor the Emer- 
sons, the Parkers, the Davises, the Jesuses of the 
race. We admire their genius, their learning, their 
inspiration, their bold and pregnant speech, their 
pure religious life and manly character, but we 
worship at the feet of one such Mother. In her 
household you will not see a husband, like the oak- 
tree of unfavorable birth and circumstances, torn 
and gnarled by the blind forces of the world, 
dwarfed and rotten at the heart, l^o child of hers 
will you find scorched by the fires of Lust, or crouch- 
ing in spirit, trod on before birth by the heel of a 
tyrant. ;N"o child blighted or withering for the want 
of physical or mental food; but one of design, made for 
a purpose^ a glory to her, and a blessing to the race. 



262 LECTURE. 

How useless it is to talk tlien of regeneration, 
saving grace, tlie blood of Christ, forgiveness of 
sins, sanctification, justification, in view of the 
appalling fact, that our mothers bore us. In view 
of this fact nobody can understand any of these 
terms. One word will express them all — mistificaiioii. 

It is proper generation not regeneration that the 
world so much stands in need of. What process of 
regeneration will right a physical imperfection, 
scrofula or hare-lip? What kind of regeneration 
will give a front-head to the idiot, or a top-head to 
the malevolent ? It is fast being found out that the 
fool and the villain cannot be regenerated. They 
have been spoilt in the making. They are broken 
vessels of fiesh and mind, and can never be mended 
on earth. 

Saving Grace. — What is it? We would call it 
the wisdom of woman as wife and mother. 

Forgiveness of Sin. — What is a sin ? A willful 
violation of a known law of God. You get drunk, 
knowing that it injures you, and you fall into the 
gutter of licentiousness. You transmit the lust of 
your heart and the smell of the bottle to your child, 
and he has a mania for liquor all his life, proves a 
curse to you, to the mother who bore him, and to 
the world; and God can forgive you for your 
drunkenness, can he? How? The forgiveness of 
sin is a contradiction in terms. I place my foot 
willfully in your path ; you tread on my toe, for 
which I suffer, and I cry out, pardon me for your 



ANTE-NATAL INFLUENCES. 268 

stepping on my toe ; and you say : granted through 
the suffering of some one of your relatives. This 
is the whole story of all the praying to God to for- 
give sin, which has ever been prayed in Christen- 
dom. There is no forgiveness, no justification in 
I^ature for sin. There is no santification for the 
sinner. 

The Blood of Christ— Will the blood of Christ 
wash out the body's pollution and prevent the trans- 
mission of disease? Will the true and devout 
Christian be exempt from the efifects of violated 
laws of pro-creation, and his children be born pure 
and heirs of heaven ? l^o vicarious atonement can 
prevent the efiects of our sins or errors on the com- 
ing generations of man ! no blood of Christ will 
wash away the diseases of the flesh transmitted to 
our children ! no holy light of the immaculate Son 
of God can illume the dark chambers of the idiot 
or the insane ! no Holy Ghost will overshadow the 
son of man, begotten in drunkenness and lust ! The 
popular scheme of salvation falls dead at the feet of 
Science. People can only be saved at the inner 
courts of family, before they are born ; designed in 
wisdom and begotten in love. 

A Change of Heart — Ministers talk learnedly about 
a change of heart ; about the Holy Spirit striving to 
convert some hardened sinner, not of evil deeds and 
thoughts, but of unchristian belief. But the min- 
ister himself is floundering in the abyss of Igno- 
rance. A pure skin and healthy stomach is of far 



264 LECTURE. 

more consequence, than a profession of religion. 
The Kingdom of Heaven is often lost from the want 
of soap and warm water. Inherited disease often 
casts* people into a hell, from whose fieiy flame no 
profession of religion and no change of heart can 
save. Instead of sinning against God, man is sin- 
ning against himself. Men and women are often 
thrown out into life, complete failures of creation. 
Conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity, how 
can a change of heart or the prayers of ministers 
save them ? E^o prayer of priest can penetrate back 
to the cause of the failure. ]^o prayer can cure the 
disease, no profession of religion can purify the 
fountains of adulterated blood, no rite of church 
can give relief. 

Ministers urge men and women to prepare for 
the next world. Would to God they would spend all 
their talent and earnest breath in teaching them to 
prepare for this world. It is not an imaginary hell 
beyond the grave, that mankind must be saved from; 
it is the hell of this world, its fires and its devils. It 
is not the soul of man that must be saved so much 
after death, it must be saved before birth. It is not 
death, it is life which is a fearfnl thing. It is the 
life which the prospective child is to live on earth, 
when conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity, 
which is most calamitous and fearful. It is a mis- 
take to suppose God can save men and women from 
the effects of error or sin. They can only save 
themselves. As well say that God can save the 



ANTE-NATAL INFLUENCES, 265 

child from bodily death, that fell out of the win- 
dow, twenty feet down, on the stone pavement, its 
brains dashing out with the fall. 

But wisdom rises out of the follies of life, and 
the path to success is pointed out in its failures. 
Truth, or the fixed purpose of God, sets over against 
the errors and sins of men and women as living re- 
bukes of shame and disgust, the monsters of the 
flesh and the idiocy of the mind, to teach virtue 
and wisdom. And the villain of the state, the 
street, the brothel, or the pulpit, reflects the wis- 
dom of God on the failures of man in the night of 
his ignorance, as the moon reflects the glory of the 
sun upon the night of earth. 



LECTURE. 
SUNDA Y—ITS HIST OB Y, USES, AND AB USES. 

In the land of Jefferson and the Declaration of 
Independence, a man was fined for working. He 
paid his fine, and his county and state ought to 
have been the richer for it ; but that they were, you 
may well doubt. 

A man worked, and was fined therefor? Yes; 
but it was unlawful labor. 

Was it for selling liquor in a dram-shop? ]N'o; 
that is not work. 

"Was it for taking corn away from his neighbor's 
barn without lawful right? ]S'o; that would be 
stealing. 

Was it for reaping where he had not sown, or 
gathering where he had not strewn? ^No; not at 
all; you misunderstand. He was not even tilling 
his own soil, for which he had a fee-simple and a 
God's patent; but working with implements of 
wood and steel, neither stolen, borrowed, nor un- 
paid for. 



268 LECTURE. 

What! In brewing corn and rye to make 
whisky, to make men drunk ; to bring ruin to head 
and heart ? It were better to raise the bread-corn 
for himself and family, and for the stranger that 
may come within his gate. 

E'o ; you still misunderstand. This man was an 
honest man; not a gambler, nor thief; no liquor 
dealer or brewer; no city wag, with ill-behaved 
mouth or stomach; no profligate country clown; 
but a man, — that being who has centered within 
him the attributes of the Universe. Such a man, 
in such a country, and for such labor, as you will 
see in the sequel, was fined. The result of it was: 
an honest man was made poorer, and the State no 
better off. But this opens the discussion, in which 
grave practical and theological questions arise. 

The evil, sin, or misdemeanor, is not in the char- 
acter of the man, nor in the kind of labor he does, 
nor how he does it; nor in the object of such labor, 
but in the tijne in which it is done. That is, there is 
time recognized by Church and State called " holy 
time," as distinguished from secular or unholy time. 
This holy time is considered to be one of the seven 
days of the week, and varies with the religious 
views and beliefs of widely separated nations. 
There is, then, a holy day; for the Grecian, Mon- 
day; for the Persian, Tuesday; the Assyrian, 
Wednesday; the Turk, Thursday; the Jew, Satur- 
day, and the Christian, Sunday. But with this last 
we have only to do in Kansas. 



SUNDAY. 269 

This holy day, called Sunday, is the only one 
which is to be entirely dedicated to God. Once, 
people in this Christian land were commanded, by 
statute, what to do, and what only to do on this day. 
Then meeting houses were filled with worshipers, 
according to " law and gospel." Those palmy, Puri- 
tan days of 'New England are, perhaps, passed 
away forever. Now, the command: "Go thou to 
church," is only heard from very few parental lips. 
There is no fear of statute, or terror of hell hanging 
over it. The statute does not command what shall 
be done on Sunday, it only prohibits certain acts 
from being done. Happy is that man who sleeps 
all day Sunday, rather than use contrary to statute 
this day. After the statute had ceased commanding 
what to do on Sunday, it was only left for the 
Christian minister and priest to command, and so 
long as these were feared they were obeyed. I 
have known little boys and girls to run and hide 
from the minister when he came to their father's 
own house. Such little boys and girls feared the 
minister, and would think it very sinful not to go to 
meeting on Sunday, if he commanded them to do 
so. The world has many such full-grown boys and 
girls; full-grown in body, not in Reason, who call 
Sunday- worship religion, and this religion a duty 
everybody in the world owes to God. 

K this holy day means a solar day, then, geo- 
graphically and astronomically, it is false to teach a 
Sunday observance to the world. For no one can 



270 LECTURE. 

travel around tlie world from East to West, without 
gaining a solar day. The sun will rise upon that 
man's life one time less for each time he circumnavi- 
gates this glohe from East to West. Who is to 
correct that man's calendar? Were it possible for a 
person to travel around the world in six days of 
twenty-four hours each, starting westward on Mon- 
day morning at sunrise, he would travel hut ^yq 
solar days, and would get back to worship on the 
sixth, instead of on the seventh. The good mis- 
sionary, who goes from Oberlin or Andover to con- 
vert the heathen of China, may be ojQTering up his 
Sunday-morning's prayer, while his good Christian 
brother at home is doing his Saturday-evening's 
work. Thus the sphericity and rotation of the earth, 
abolish the notion of a particular day which is 
distinguishable the world over, from any other day. 
One can even sail away from all solar days of twenty- 
four hours' duration, and find one day and night a 
twelve-month long. Sunday was never meant for 
Dr. Kane and his party of Arctic explorers, in their 
winter quarters, far this side of the Polar Sea, where 
a night of one hundred and forty days enveloped 
that latitude; and where, for many a Sunday, its 
noonday was the black image of its midnight. 

It is not, then, a certain solar day that can be 
considered holier than the other six solar days ; and 
it must, therefore, be asserted that one-seventh of 
the time is to be kept holy, in accordance with the 
minister's prescription, and the statute's prohibition. 



SUNDAY. 271 

What particular seventh part of time? and how 
shall this particular seventh part of time be kept? 
These are questions which have never been fiilly 
answered. There is a chaos of theological thinking 
and legislative action thereon, all arising out of 
vague notions of time ; false theories in regard to 
the earth, as to its origin, shape, position and motion; 
false conceptions of God, with all the limitations of 
human weakness, working hard, getting tired, and 
resting; together with the debased views held in 
regard to man. 

A moment's thought must set one right in regard 
to this notion of holy, or unholy time. Time is the 
measure of motion, and is as purely abstract as 
number, size and distance. As well say that seven 
is holier than five, as that some time is holier than 
some other time. Time is relative and applies only 
to the finite. We may mark time upon the dial of 
a clock or watch. The second, or part of a second, 
is struck off by a perceptible movement. We can 
see the second hand move directly under the eye ; 
it takes the closest observation to see the minute 
hand move; and look as intently as we may we 
cannot see the hour hand move; yet it is in motion, 
or time would not be indicated. And thus we only 
indicate time relatively, as compared with motion 
or change, and call it cycle, year, month, week, day, 
hour, minute, second; whereas absolutely there is 
no division of time. There is the infinite Abyss, 
in which time is swallowed up. To the absolute 



272 LECTURE. 

and infinite God there is no sucli thing as time, nor 
any such thing as space. God's life is the infinite 
Now^ and his being the infinite Here, To the In- 
finite it must be all Now and Here. 

Strictly then the word holy, can only be applied 
to action, for there can be no such thing as holy 
or unholy time. The action may in this way name 
the hour, or day, or place ; as that was a holy day, 
or that is a holy place; because just deeds were 
done then and there. And also, that was an unholy 
day, or that is an unholy place, because unjust deeds 
were done then and there. And thus it has come 
about, that worship paid to the gods on a certain 
day, and in a particular place, has rendered both the 
day and the place holy, because to worship the 
gods was deemed the best and holiest deed of men. 
But it would be very silly in this age to assert, that 
the best deeds of the world are done in a meeting 
house on Sunday, and that no worship could be as 
good elsewhere, and at other times. We can by no 
means say, that Sunday is a holy day because all the 
good deeds of Christendom are done on that day, 
and that the other six days are unholy time, because 
that is the time in which all the unholy deeds of 
Christendom are done. This would be ignoring facts. 

But why was the man fined for working on 
Sunday in the Free State of Kansas ? Was it be- 
cause the Christian bible had it so recorded from 
the pen of inspired lawgiver or prophet? No; not 
a word to this eJffect in the Old Testament. 



SUNDAY. 273 

Was it because Jesus of ITazaretli, or his 
apostles so commanded? ISTo; not a word in the 
!N'ew Testament upon the subject of Sunday, or 
Sunday-worship. No word about a ■Q.ne, about at- 
tending church, or what is lawful, or unlawful to do 
upon the Sunday. The Bible commands nothing; 
says nothing upon the subject, and every Christian 
says : " I take the Scriptures of the Old and New 
Testament to be the only infallible rule of faith and 
practice." 

Then the man was not fined because he violated 
any biblical command, nor because he was not a 
Christian ? No. 

Nor because he violated any physical or mental 
law ? No. 

Why then? How foolish your question? It 
was because he violated a statute of Kansas, which 
says in plain English without obscurity or ambig- 
uity: " Every person who shall labor or perform any 
work other than the household offices of daily ne- 
cessity, or other works of necessity or charity, on 
the first day of the week commonly called Sunday, 
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and fined 
not exceeding twenty-five dollars." This is why. 
No need of Bible or Christianity to explain that. 
This too is the common law of the land, and was 
imported in the Mayflower, and in many a ship 
besides, from England and still other lands of 
Europe. It was not imported from Africa in Chris- 
tian ships of slave traffic, but was found ready 



274 LECTURE. 

waiting and in religious use for those duskj sons of 
toil as soon as they landed in Georgetown or Puri- 
tanic Boston. In the inscrutable providence of 
Grod, it was a jubilee of rest to the black barbarian, 
driven to toil early and late, under the lash of 
Christian task-masters. And if man neglected to 
mention it in his Bible, God did not forget to write it 
in the Constitution of Man, so that it might be read 
for the good of toiling men and women. Sunday 
is founded upon the same demand of human nature, 
which establishes, and has established all days of 
rest among different peoples of the world. The 
sufferings of man, have long preceded every law 
which has been enacted for his good. The over- 
worked or hard-worked man needs rest, whether 
driven by a master, his necessities, or his own 
greed for worldly gains. Then Tired Mature cries 
out: "Give me rest!" This is how it came in the 
statute of Kansas, and English statutes and the Com- 
mon law. 80 England said in her fundamental 
law in the time of Charles H., (1678,) for Puritanic 
comfort: "No tradesman, artificer, workman, laborer, 
or other person whatsoever, shall do or exercise 
any worldly labor, business, or work of their ordi- 
nary callings upon the Lord's Day, or any part 
thereof, works of charity and necessity only excep- 
ted." This is the parent of our statute; and at that 
time the Sunday rigor culminated in England 
among the Puritans. This consummation had been 
long in coming. But it was as irresistible as the 



SUNDAY. 275 

ocean at its flood. Those things which acted as 
causes had been done ; they could not be undone, 
and the effect was inevitable. It was in vain that 
James I., sixty years before, (1618,) proclaimed 
against the Judaical observance of Sunday, and en- 
couraged after divine services, all kinds of lawful 
games and exercises. For this he must be branded 
as impious and profane, and seven years later, under 
his successor, a law must be passed to strictly 
forbid this ungodly license, and to annul this 
ungodly proclamation. How futile were the efforts 
of James I. He had grappled with the Inevitable. 
It was all in vain to try to annul by proclamation, 
the long face, and the long prayer, and the long sad 
Sunday of the stern Puritan. Why, surel}- ! Was 
not Shepherd expelled from the House of Commons 
in the Eighteenth of the king's reign, and disgraced 
before a whole nation for his biblical argument in 
favor of less rigor on Sunday, and for saying: 
*' David danced before the Ark of the Covenant, 
which seems to justify sports on that da}'." 

Seventeen years before this, things were running 
quite loosely. Sunday was not tied up by statute. 
Then sports and recreations were not only justifi- 
able, but recommended on this day. An occasional 
stray shot from Parliament is felt by some trades- 
man, as for example : " Shoemakers are prohibited 
from exposing for sale shoes on Sunday." Yet, 
labor was partially prohibited in the time of Eliza- 
beth. In time of harvest, however, England was 



276 LECTURE, 

free to labor in the field, and this strictly in accord- 
ance with Christianity, under the Most Protestant 
Queen. It was then thought, this was not at vari- 
ance with the Bible, nor Nature herself; for what 
God had sent, it was not wicked, but wise, on any 
day to save. In fact, England had no statutory 
respect for Sunday, more than other days, till the 
time of Henry VI., (1449,) and then the preference, 
it seems, was shown for Easter Sunday. Fairs and 
certain feast days were then prohibited on Easter 
Sunday, and certain other Sundays. Upon this 
famous Easter Sunday, the little English boys and 
girls would run through the streets crying, or 
singing : 

"Christ is risen, Christ is risen, 
All the Jews must go to prison." 

It is said that Easter Sunday was kept peculiarly 
sacred, because it is the day in the year on which 
Jesus of IS'azareth rose from the dead. This we 
know is not true; for Easter Sunday may come on 
any day between the 21st of March and the 26th of 
April. Constantine had it established at the Council 
of W\cQ, and it depends on the Moon and the 
Vernal equinox, instead of on the resurrection of 
Jesus. The word Easter is perhaps derived from 
Ostera, the Teutonic goddess of Spring. This god- 
dess was worshiped by our forefathers, the ancient 
Saxons, and a festival was held in honor of her, 
each returning spring. Here is perhaps the history 
of Easter Sunday : The Sun, in passing from the 



SUNDAY, 277 

Winter solstice, may be said to have risen when he 
reaches the Vernal equinox. The earth has passed 
from her death of winter to her life of spring. 
This came through the direct influence of the Sun- 
god. But the month which immediately followed 
the sun-god's resurrection, was named Osier-monat, 
or Easter-month, by our Saxon ancestors, in honor 
of Ostera the goddess of spring. And the festival of 
that month, in honor of this goddess, was perhaps 
the origin of our Easter Sunday, which would be 
indicated by the first full moon, which followed the 
Vernal equinox. It may safely be afiirmed, from 
all the evidence which the world now has, that 
Easter Sunday originated more from the worship 
paid to the Sun and Moon, by pagan Saxons, than 
from Jesus of IN'azareth, or Jewish Passover. 

The respect paid to Easter Sunday, by statutory 
enactment, was the beginning of all English and 
American legislative enactments which have since 
followed. And we see from this there is a god-idea 
connected with it, as well as a demand in human 
nature, when one man is made the slave of another. 
From man's necessity came the day of rest, and 
from the god-thought it became holy and reverenced. 
Slavery in some form has always been connected 
with the day of rest. Slaves were imported into 
Europe from the western coast of Africa in 1443. 
Six years after this England paid her respects to 
Easter Sunday through Parliament. The slave 
trade grew in importance and became respectable in 



278 LECTURE. 

Christian Europe. The Pope patronized it, and 
paid his respects in a series of bulls. The Most 
Protestant Queen Elizabeth protects John Hawkins 
in the J^egro slave traffic, and herself shares the 
profits. The Sunday, also, grows more respected, 
and perhaps reached its highest point of severe and 
rigid observance at the time the slave-trade was the 
most patronized and respected. Even a member of 
the church in Boston, who might be guilty of 

•'Hanging of his cat on Monday 
For kiling of a mouse on Sunday," 

was one of the first two men in the Colonies to sail 
"for Guinea to trade for Negroes." 

The ]S"egroe3 doubtless thought the Sunday ob- 
servance the best part of Christianity. 

From Henry VI. , of England, back to Constantine, 
a period of over eleven hundred years, we find no 
Sunday superstition coming in the shape of legisla- 
tive enactment. One ecclesiastical decree did come 
from the Council of Orleans against field labor, but 
the stomach of man did not heed it. Sunday, 
during all this time was the Christian holiday, and 
was, perhaps, not kept as sacred and holy as those 
days of the week which were not holidays ; as days 
of festivity are generally days of debauch. 

When Constantine gave the Roman" religion the 
name of Christianity, he adopted the Christian 
Lord's day, as then known and observed among 
Christians, and thus placed it among the Roman 
holidays. These holidays were quite numerous 



SUNDAY. 279 

with the Romans, and were kept as days of pleas- 
ure and recreation. They were days of religious 
or patriotic expression; days of intellectual or 
physical feats. They were considered about as 
sacred as our Fourth of July. But as the old Ro- 
man religion was at last baptised in the name of 
the Triune God, and christened in honor of Christ ; 
so by adopting the Christian holiday, this must have 
special honor, and become the chief of holidays. 
After this it came gradually into reverence, as in 
the slow course of years the name of Jesus the 
martyr, who had been preached to the world as the 
Christ, became more and more reverenced. And 
although Constantine gave the Christian holiday a 
place in the Roman calendar, it was by no means 
kept sacred from labor by even the most zealous of 
Christians; for in the year A. D. 321, he ordered 
the suspension of all business in courts of law, and 
all other business, except the manumission of slaves 
and agricultural labor. Thus the Christian farmer, 
in the time of Constantine the Great, and long cen- 
turies after, thought it no sin to work on Lord's 
day, and did work in the most secular manner; and 
perhaps never dreamed of a holy day, or a holy 
time, i^ot even Luther or Calvin thought Sunday 
a holy day. 

This legislative enactment under Constantine 
was the first in regard to Sunday; it was by no 
means the last. Sunday through statutory enact- 
ment has now become a part of the worship of Jesus^ 



280 LECTURE. 

As the Hebrew Jehovali was a jealous god, 
and would allow tlie worship of no other; so the 
Christian Sunday soon became a jealous day, and 
would allow the celebration of no other among all 
the festal days of those early times. And it comes 
down to us a growth, as a tree grows from the seed 
by insensible gradations; it is a growth like the 
worship of Jesus. When we go out the Code of 
Justinian, and beyond the time of Constantine, we go 
into outer darkness to find any authority " sacred or 
profane" for the worship of the Christian Sunday. 
We search "Holy Writ" in vain for the name of 
that day. What does the name, itself, denote? 
Why, surely! the day of the Sun. The day dedi- 
cated to the worship of that shining orb ; and it is 
of very ancient and heathen origin. It was wor- 
shiped long before Elegabalis brought it into the 
Roman Empire from Emesa on the banks of the 
Orontes, which had been honored there in his own 
name, in the worship paid to a Stone fallen from 
heaven. This, also, was the peculiar object of the 
devotion of Constantine the Great. The Christian 
Lord's Day, took the name of the Pagan Sunday. 
The two are identical. And Sunday means not the 
worship paid to Jesus of N^azareth, but to the Sun. 
The Jewish Sabbath has a history fully as inter- 
esting and quicker told. It belongs to the astro- 
nomic history of the week. Quite an advance was 
made in astronomical discovery before the week was 
established, and to explain the origin of the week, 



SUNDAY. 281 

not only gives us clear conceptions of tlie causes of 
holy days, but also beautifully shows the origin and 
course of thought, and how closely the mind hugs 
material forms. The rudest form of the god-thought 
is Fetichism, the worship of God in a thing; fire, 
sun, moon, or the like. This god is the " Hidden," 
the "Wonder worker." To give to each depart- 
ment of J^ature a presiding god or goddess, with 
human attributes, is Polytheism. When the con- 
ception of God is purely human with extraordinary 
power, it is Hero-worship, or Anthropomorphism; 
the worship of a man as God. These gods, it was 
once thought, lived upon the earth, but at last 
departed, taking up their abode in the heavens 
among the stars; so, also, stars were called after 
their names. And thus came the notion that the 
stars influenced the character and destiny of men. 
This has given the world that renowned and 
complex system of Astrology so prevalent before 
Copernicus. A group or constellation of stars 
would represent one god and his labors; another 
group would be set off to another god or goddess. 
The Sun himself was a god, the Moon a goddess. 
But by long observation it was found certain five 
stars changed their positions with regard to certain 
other stars which did not change their position. 
The ^ve were called wandering stars, or planets; 
the others fixed stars. These ^Ye stars the Grecians 
named Mercury, Yenus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn ; and 
arranged them in this order from the marked differ- 



282 LECTURE. 

ence in the rapidity of their motions. This is the 
true order which they sustain to each other and to 
the sun, in regard to position. The Egyptians 
arranged them in the same order and gave them 
god-names, also. These wanderers were known 
beyond the historic age by Grecian, Egyptian and 
Indian astronomers, and arranged in their true order. 
Peculiar characteristics were attributed to these 
planet gods. Saturn, whose movement was ex- 
tremely slow, was rightly supposed to be farthest 
away, and was considered cold and gelid in nature. 
Jupiter, whose motion was a little more rapid, was 
at a less distance and temperate. Mars was fiery 
and warlike, as his color indicated. Yenus, the 
bright beauty of morning and evening, was the 
goddess of Love. And Mercury, the nearest to the 
Sun, whose motion is so rapid, was the swift-winged 
messenger of heaven. These ^lyq wanderers, with 
the Sun and Moon, became the seven luminaries of 
earth and were made to preside in their heavenly 
spheres, and to rule over successive days on earth; 
and these constitute the seven days of the week. 
This is the oldest testimony of man's astronomical 
knowledge, which has come down to us. And it 
comes from all nations of the East. The Jewish 
account of creation makes it date back to the be- 
ginning of man's existence. The Brahmins, of India^ 
whose history dates back of Buddhism, and back 
of Egyptian, Assyrian, Jewish and Grecian history, 
had, also, the week of seven days, and these days 



SUNDAY. 283 

presided over by the heavenly bodies. And says 
Whewel, in his able history of the Inductive Sci- 
ences: "It has been ascertained that the same day 
has, in that country, the name corresponding with 
its designation in other countries." 

Now let us take the names of these seven lumi- 
naries, and we have for the names of the seven days 
of the week, Saturn's day, or Saturday; Sun's day, 
or Sunday; Moon's day, or Monday. But at this 
point we find the wedding of Eastern and Western 
m3^thologies. We have discarded the old names of 
Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Venus, which ought to 
follow, and have adopted the names of the Teutonic 
deities. We have, therefore, Tuesday, from the 
Latin Tuisco, the name of the Saxon god of battle, 
instead of the Grecian Mars. This is the Tig or 
Tyr of IS'orthern Mythology. Hence, with our an- 
cestor's Tuesday, was court-day. And why court- 
day ? Simply because our ancestors appealed to the 
god of Battle to settle their disputes, instead of to 
lawyers, as now. The battle was fought on Tues- 
day, and one day ended it. Then we have Odin's 
day, or Wednesday. Thor's day, or Thursday. 
Frigga's day, or Friday. It will be here noticed 
that, in the Teutonic version, there is but one god- 
dess to figure in the week. She names the unlucky 
day, Friday. There is a superstitious notion to-day, 
running throughout Christendom, that it is best not 
to begin any new undertaking on Friday; and in 
Law it is the custom to execute the sentence of 



284 LECTURE. 

death upon a felon on Friday. E'o man under judi- 
cial sentence, in all Christendom, can hang by the 
neck till dead, on any day except Friday. The 
reason is, in all early mythologies, woman was con- 
sidered the cause of all Evil in the world; and, 
hence, her day of the week is the only unlucky 
one. Thus Custom and Law honor her curse. It 
is said no nation in the world deems this a holy day. 

Now let it be noted that these last deities, of 
Teutonic mythology, corresponded in character ex- 
actly with the Grecian deities, whose names were 
given to the wandering stars; save, perhaps, Odin, 
whose history is quite limited, confused and con- 
flicting. It thus becomes apparent that we have a 
week whose very history is a record of vast eras in 
thought, wherein the story of the stars has come 
down to us with their god-names and god-histories. 

This will explain many historic allusions, many 
mythologic conclusions, not otherwise understood. 
Thus the Jewish Sabbath is our Saturday. This is 
Saturn's day. Saturn was a Roman deity. The 
name is synonymous with the Chronos of the 
Greeks. His chief characteristic is retributive jus- 
tice, who is said to have devoured his own unruly 
offspring for the evil they had done; as time may be 
said to devour all things. In Egypt we find the god- 
dess I^Temesis, whose characteristic is retributive jus- 
tice, presiding over the day, and naming the wander- 
ing star. But the history of Jehovah, the God of 
Israel, in bringing his people out from the land of 



SUNDAY. 285 

bondage, is simply the story of the great and god- 
like work of retributive justice. This Egyptian and 
Grecian characteristic is confirmed and proven in 
the fact, that Jehovah had the same day made holy, 
upon which he would neither work nor suffer his 
chosen people to work. Hence, Saturday has a 
history which penetrates Saxon, Roman, Grecian, 
Egyptian and Jewish times ; and like Sunday, when 
considered more sacred than other days, must he 
referred back to the mythology of the world's igno- 
rance. 

It is well to trace the history of these two days, 
that we may see by what authority they are pro- 
nounced holy; by what authority they shall be held 
as holy; and by whom they ought to be reverenced 
as holy. We can now understand why the Bible 
says nothing about Sunday. The Bible writers 
doubtless knew nothing about it. And why the 
Sabbath is considered holy by the Old Testament 
writers, and considered of but little consequence by 
the 'New Testament writers. 

But says the Christian : " The bible commands 
a Sabbath observance, which has been changed to 
Sunday." Let us see ! By whose authority was it 
changed ? Not by Jewish prophet, nor Christian 
apostle. Not by the authority of Jesus or Paul. 
Not by* any word of the " Holy text." The Sab- 
bath was never changed into Sunday, for the Sab- 
bath and Sunday both exist. The Sunday is not 
founded upon biblical ground; it has not even the 



286 LECTURE. 

Rock of Saint Peter on which to rest. The Jewish 
Sabbath was meant only for the Jews, as the Bible 
fully proves. It has no identity with the Christian 
Sunday. It is the peculiar day upon which to pay 
worship to the god Jehovah. Speaking through 
Ezekiel, he says : "I gave them my Sabbaths to be 
a sign between me and them." And through Moses, 
he is recorded as saying: " Wherefore the children 
of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the 
Sabbath throughout their generations for a per- 
petual covenant. It is a sign between me and the 
children of Israel forever." The Bible writers 
never said it is a sign between any other god and 
his children, nor between Jehovah and any other of 
God's children outside of the Jewish nation. 

The Sabbath is declared in Deuterononay to 
have been ordained because of slavery : " That 
thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as 
well as thou." " And remember that thou wast a 
servant in the land of Egypt; and that the Lord thy 
God brought thee out thence through a mighty 
hand and by a stretched out arm. Therefore, the 
Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sab- 
bath." This is the work of retributive justice, and goes 
far to strengthen the history of Saturday, as being 
the day of the cold and gelid Saturn, whose move- 
ment is so slow in the heavens. 

But that the Jewish Sabbath was not meant for 
the Christian Sunday is quite obvious in the popu- 
lar observance of Sunday. The strictness of the 



'SUNDAY. 287 

Sabbatical law is nowhere enforced, and has never 
been enforced among Christians. Even the rigid 
Puritan came far short of it. And though the 
Puritan, when we look at his mental characteristics, 
gives us the clearest conception of the ancient 
Jewish god, we by no means can give the Puritan 
credit for living up to the bibUcal commands. But 
as he was of all Christians on earth, both before 
and since his day, the nearest like the Jewish 
Jehovah, so also he came the nearest of all Chris- 
tians, to living up to the commands of Jehovah. 
But if the biblical command in regard to the Sab- 
bath must be taken as applicable to Sunday, then: 
" Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habita- 
tions upon Sunday," and death must be the penalty 
if you do : " For whosoever doeth any work therein 
shall be put to death." Suppose that to-day, " an 
holy day," a Sunday of rest unto the Lord, while 
walking just outside the limits of town, your atten- 
tion is attracted by much noise, as of many talking, 
and the cries and groans of a man, as in dying ago- 
nies. You look up and behold a great crowd of 
men, and in front of that crowd a man tied to a 
tree. You stop in amazement to see this defence- 
less man pelted with stones. If you have a heart of 
granite you may stay and witness the closing scene. 
The victim is pelted till he has not a whole bone in 
his body; till his eyes burst out of their sockets, 
and his brains are dropping down to the ground. 
The crowd cease ; the man is dead, and you ap- 



288 LECTURE. 

proach with a timid step of distrust. Of a man 
who seems to be a commander of men, venerable 
and bearded to the girdle, you inquire what this 
is all about, who he is, and what the authority for 
so dreadful an occurrence. He tells you, he is a 
high priest, a minister of the true God ; that this 
vain fellow who had just been killed had gathered 
sticks yesterday, on Saturday; and furthermore, 
that this is just the manner in which God has com- 
manded us to deal with these Sabbath-breakers. 
You, though believing in the Bible as the only in- 
fallible rule of faith and practice, had never before 
seen a practical illustration of its teaching, and 
being unable to master the situation, shake your 
head thoughtfully and rather instinctively. 

"Don't you believe it?" asks the priest "What 
says our law? We have not only Moses as au- 
thority, but an example." 

"But I never read Bible that way before!" say 
you, pointing to the murdered man. 

"Listen," says the high priest of God, "and I 
will read what you hold to be infallible, and the 
word of God." And he reads from the fifteenth 
chapter of lumbers, as follows: 

"And while the children of Israel were in the 
wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks 
on the Sabbath day; and they that found him gath- 
ing sticks, brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and 
unto all the congregation. And they put him in 
ward, because it was not declared what should be 



SUNDAY. 289 

done witli him. And the Lord said unto Moses : The 
man shall be surely put to death: all the congrega- 
tion shall stone him with stones without the camp. 
And all the congregation brought him without the 
camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died, as 
the Lord commanded Moses.^' 

"There, Mr. Caviler," says the priest, "what 
do you think of that? There is your infallible Scrip- 
ture for you. ^And the Lord said unto Moses.' Do 
you believe the Lord said that unto Moses ? ' And 
he died as the Lord commanded Moses.' Do you 
believe this?" 

You, though a Christian, shake your head in- 
stinctively, and stammer out: "Yes, but those 
ancient times are not these times; our humane 
Sunday takes the place of that barbarous Sabbath." 

"Barbarous! Hypocrite!" says the priest. "You 
claim a Sunday observance founded on our Sabbath, 
yet no where and at no time do you follow the teach- 
ings of the Bible thereon. You ought to follow 
the Law in regard to the Sabbath, aud take the Bible 
as your guide, or else acknowledge yourself an 
infidel. When you condemn this act of mine, you 
condemn Moses and the Prophets; you deny the 
Word of the Most High God, and to escape from 
the word Infidel you cover yourself with hypocrisy." 

The priest argues well. IS'ow let us test the 
matter and see whether or not the Christian really 
believes the Jewish Sabbath is pushed one day 
ahead into his Sunday. This can be decided by 



290 LECTURE. 

asking: Will the Christian take the Bible as 
authority, and apply its Sabbath injunctions to his 
Sunday? To make it true, this must be done. 
Then, gather no sticks, and kindle no fires on Sun- 
day, and kill everybody who takes the name of 
Christian, who does so. There is no civilized Chris- 
tian to-day on the face of this earth, who believes 
that any body of men would be justifiable in putting 
a man to death for picking up sticks on Sunday. 
There is no civilized Christian, surely, who would 
do such wickedness. Christian, do you believe God 
commanded that a man should be killed by slow 
and cruel, nay, savage torture, simply for gathering 
sticks on Saturday? Surely, there is no one so de- 
based as to beheve it; many may be weak enough 
to assert it, never having witnessed such barbarity 
enforced. If it be Christianity to believe it, you 
insult God and defame mankind, by calling any one 
a Christian. How much less, then, is it religion to 
believe it? Truth, when wilt thou unveil False- 
hood? Hypocrisy, when wilt thou begone? 

Well, we can sympathize now with Jesus when 
he said to those old orthodox Jews in regard to the 
strict observance of the letter of the Law: "Hypo- 
crites ! ye have omitted the weightier matters of the 
Law; Judgment, Mercy and Faith." We can also 
sympathize with Paul when he says: "The letter 
killeth, but the spirit giveth life." I think the 
great religious heart outside of the Christian church, 
iu Europe, and especially in America, think too 



SUNDAY. 291 

little of Jesus; but little appreciate his work, and 
understand but poorly, the terrible times of his 
age. What severe trials that bold heart passed 
through to give example to the precepts he taught. 
When he said : " The Sabbath was made for man, 
not man for the Sabbath," it was in defense of hav- 
ing violated it. Jesus was a Sabbath-breaker; not 
because he thought thus to annoy the Jews, but be- 
cause not consistent with any moral Law that it 
should be deemed sacred. Such a precept by the 
great Teacher, could only be enforced by example. 
He, therefore, commands the person he has healed 
to carry his bed on the Sabbath day; an act strictly 
forbidden in the Old Testament. The devout Jews 
thought, therefore, his doctrine was not sound, that 
it could have no force of truth or divinity in it; and 
they exclaimed: "This man is not of God because 
he keepeth not the Sabbath." But Jesus argued : 
If the Sabbath was made for man then it is lawful 
to do well on the Sabbath days, and man is lord, 
also, of the Sabbath. Jesus thought that day was 
like any other day. Work may be done if work is 
needed ; man may rest if he is tired. This is the 
undisguised doctrine of Jesus. The author of the 
Fourth gospel even makes Jesus deny the authority 
on which the Sabbath, as a day of rest, is founded. 
John makes Jesus deny the Fourth commandment. 
"My Father worketh hitherto, and I Avork." That 
is: God at no time ever ceased working. Surely 
this is the doctrine of Eeason, and it would bo 



292 LECTURE. 

strictly in accordance with a brave religious re- 
former to say so. And the argument was : If God 
had never ceased working, then Jesus, himself, 
would not. The time of labor and rest for man is 
established in each revolving day. 

The special day is added for the slave. But 
God rests not. We see no rest in ISTature. The 
Sun rises each Sunday and Sabbath morn; at eve 
the stars, in their silent courses, look down and 
'^have us to bed." On those holy days the corn 
will grow, and the wheat ripen, bidding man save 
what God hath sent. Truly, God worketh hitherto, 
and still works. 

It was Paul who took up the doctrine of Jesus, 
and preached it to Jew and Gentile in downright 
earnestness. He even did more than this: he 
preached Jesus and the Holy Ghost to "Disciples" 
who had no knowledge of either. To a Christianity 
without either, he gave both. He preached, not so 
much Jesus Christ, as that Jesus was, or is the 
Christ ; and baptized, not in the name of John the 
Baptist, as those Christians who knew not Jesus 
were in the habit of doing, but in the name of the 
Holy Ghost. (See Acts, xviii: 5, 25-28; also, xix: 
1-3.) Surely, then, the doctrine of the great 
Teacher in regard to the Sabbath he also must 
teach ; and he accordingly says : " Let no man 
judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a 
holy day, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow 
of things to come; but the body is of Christ." 



SUNDAY. 293 

That is, coming events cast their shadows before. 
The Sabbath with Paul was merely the intangible 
shadow of the Christ, whose body was Jesus of 
I^azareth. He thus blotted out the hand- writing of 
ordinances, which was against mankind, and nailed 
it to the cross of Jesus. In strict accordance with 
this, he says to the Eomans: " One man esteemeth 
one day above another; another esteemeth every 
day alike; let every man be fally persuaded in his 
own mind." This was entire freedom; ''the glo- 
rious liberty of the children of God;" positive, 
natural, and true to the spirit of Jesus. The old 
ordinances are no longer binding; they were made 
for a past and dead age, and must pass away. Those 
"beggarly elements" of day and time-worship must 
be buried. The Christian must no longer be in 
bondage to these ; and he cries out to those Galla- 
tians who are about to backslide : " Ye observe days, 
and months, and times, and years ; I am afraid of 
you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain." 
K Paul could look now upon the Christianity he 
gave to the world, he might be tempted to cry out: 
" I never preached that Jesus was the Christ, that it 
should come to this Sunday worship ; this shadow 
of Sun, and Moon, and Star worship. Yerily, ye 
are reposing in ignorance and illiterate preaching, 
and would reject me and Jesus also. I am afraid 
lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain." All 
this is sorry comfort to the worshipers of Sunday 
or Saturday, who are compelled to acknowledge, 



294 LECTURE. 

they are no more sacred than other days of the 
week, or else reject all these weighty matters of 
history which are here adduced. 

Let us now look at its philosophy and meaning, 
and point out some of the best uses to which the 
Sunday can be put. 

Sunday is one of the effects of man's develop- 
ment. It came primarily through the god-thought, 
and was one of the results of Superstition, which 
may be defined to be religion without science ; and 
secondarily through man's necessity. These are 
the two causes which have given us the holy day as 
a day of rest. It became needed as Oppression 
warred against the body. Tyranny, slavery, greed 
of gain, driving the human beast of burden to in- 
human toil, made " Tired Nature" cry out for rest. 
And the holy day of the god-thought came as a 
jubilee to master and servant. To the slave under 
the Hebrew hand it was a jubilee of rest. And the 
Sabbath of seven weeks of years was a high day to 
the slave of Hebrew blood. With the black slave of 
Europe and America, the Sunday must have been 
a joyful day. Nothing could make him believe it 
was not writ in the ordinances of God. And so it 
was, though not found in the Christian master's 
Bible. To the tired laborer who toils from ten to 
fourteen hours each day, crowded by an employer's 
avarice, it must be a welcome day. To the New 
England farmer who toils late and early, year after 
year, in a rocky soil, it is a day most devoutly wel- 



SUNDAY. 295 

coined by the tired flesh of man and beast. And 
may it in mercy be continued in use, so long as the 
sewing girls of Boston and other cities of the Chris- 
tian world, are ground beneath the heel of avarice. 
Here is a picture of slavery to-day which the Sun- 
day of our Christian superstition cannot cure, and 
which it can but slightly alleviate. In one of the 
best clothing establishments in Boston over one 
hundred girls are employed to sew. The work 
they do soon kills them. Sitting week after week 
at a sewing machine, their backs give out, and 
work to them is gone forever. Thus testifies Dr. 
Dio Lewis, of Boston : " One hundred American 
girls, such as our sisters, cousins and daughters, if 
we have them, are taken into that great establish- 
ment, one of the very best in Boston, and in a year 
or two are spoiled forever ; unfit to do anything 
more but to illustrate how much a woman may 
sufifer, without complaining and without dying; 
ground up in such a mill in one or two years, and 
then thrown out to pick up what they can, till God 
in his mercy shall take them where the weary are 
at rest." 

This will illustrate not only the need of a day 
of rest, but the dreadful abuse of Sunday. I would 
remove the dreadful superstition which hangs over 
it, and make of it a fit day of rest for the weary, or 
recreation, rejoicing, social enjoyment, instruction, 
or labor, suited to the condition of each human 
being, as his own bodily and mental wants de- 



296 



LECTURE. 



mand. How mucli could be made of the Sunday 
were it not enfolded in the black pall of Supersti- 
tion. The scientific lecture might profitably be 
made to take the place of the popular sermon, and 
people who toil in the shop or in the soil be made 
better and wiser. In this way thousands could be 
instructed, by the diligence and mental labor of one 
man. But to the man of health, who has his affairs 
well ordered, all days are holy alike. Each day 
brings its blessed labor and rest. Each day its in- 
tellectual and moral instruction. To this man, a 
Sabbath or Sunday is as superfluous as a sick day, or 
a day in prison. The man who is not a slave to his 
passions or to another, has no need of the Christian 
Sunday or the Jewish Sabbath ; God never meant 
it for him. 

Labor must be reclaimed from the curse of Ava- 
rice, the curse of the Law, and the curse of the 
Bible. This three-headed monster is eating up, 
before their time, the best and the purest of the 
land. The *' Eight Hour System" will help a little, 
but we will have to look to the common Free 
schools, and to the Free Press for a wider distribu- 
tion of knowledge, and to bold patriotic preachers, 
who will face old Superstition, and drive him from 
the pulpit, and give to the world I^atural Religion. 
It is strange to see with what wickedness Christians 
will charge their god. Making him the cruel task- 
master of a cursed and doomed race. It is not God 
who has cursed labor. He never cursed the ground 



SUNDAY. 297 

for man's sake; but he has blessed it, and contin- 
ually blesses it. He has made labor the greatest 
blessing to man which has come from infinite wis- 
dom. Without labor, surely the world would be 
cursed, and no Sabbath or Sunday could save it 
from irretrievable doom. It is man who has cursed 
labor. Avarice steals the wages of the Poor. The 
Strong eat up the substance of the Weak. Cupidity 
harnesses slave muscles to the plow. Cupidity 
drives man to toil under the lash. Cupidity drives 
defenseless women into garrets of want and unceas- 
ing labor; into dens of vice and into garnished halls 
of licentiousness. The beggar, in rags, asking a 
pittance at the rich man's door, is the effigy of 
cursed labor ; nay, is the literal fact standing there. 
God will always keep him standing there till man- 
kind remove the curse, which they, themselves, 
have made. The Sunday of rest cannot clothe or 
feed him. The Sunday sermon from costly pulpit, 
preached to costly pews, cannot reach him. The 
Sunday prayer cannot save him. He is doomed 
under the curse of labor. Christian ! do you believe 
that God robs the poor man and gives his substance 
to the rich ? Then think not that he has cursed 
labor. Oh! man, remove this curse you have placed 
upon labor, and sanctify honest toil with the laying 
on of holy hands, and baptize it with the sweat of 
your face. The holiest hours of the life of mortal 
man are his laboring hours, when he is free and the 
reward of these are his own. A man who idles on 



298 



LECTURE, 



week-day, might redeem himself in some small 
degree by working on Sunday, and so not curse 
that day also in idleness. 

Here is the theological mistake of Christendom. 
One day is taught to be more holy than other six 
days, and that no unholy thing must be done on the 
holy day. But labor is unholy according to the 
" Curse." It is the direct result of the " Fall " and the 
" Curse," and therefore man is not allowed to do the 
cursed thing on the holy day. This mistake has 
wrought much mischief in the world, and will ever 
work mischief till untaught the world. K the 
honest labor of man be in itself not evil, but good 
and holy, then why not labor on the "holy day?" 
But, no ! labor is, in the Christian theology, consid- 
ered a " cursed thing," and would defile the Lord's 
day. Kot even in this Republic will Christians 
celebrate Washington's birth-day, should it come on 
Sunday. ]^o one thinks the Fourth of July holy. 
Yet the holiest act of the centuries was done on 
that day, 1776. Some years the Fourth of July 
comes on Sunday. It is the Tyranny of superstition 
and priestcraft which say: "It must stand aside for 
Sunday." What ! must the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence bow to a Roman decree ? Must it skulk 
aside at the bidding of an English statute made 
hundreds of years ago ? Must the signers of the 
Declaration of Independence be thought less worthy 
of our esteem than a body of wrangling bishops at 
the Council of Nice, who thought they could vote 



sum) AT. 299 

divinity into and out of certain bible manuscripts ? 
Must Jefferson be made to bow at the feet of the 
most corrupt and licentious of Roman emperors? 
Must civil liberty in America be thought less holy 
than pagan worship ? If there be aught of divinity 
in respect paid to great deeds and noble sentiments, 
it is in our civic honors paid to these on the Fourth 
of July. Yet some " dry-as-dust " statute or decree 
of a dead age, which statute or decree ought to have 
been long ago forgotten for not having the breath of 
divinity in it, will make a whole nation of men, in 
sham and mock attitude before high heaven, and in 
scorn of common sense, go out and play Fourth on 
some day which is not the Fourth of July, as re- 
corded in a Nation's heart. A nation of men must 
not only declare Hypocrisy to be legitimate, but they 
must go out on parade and make Hypocrisy keep 
step to the music; they must harangue it, and sing 
it, and pray it, in sham celebration. But it is said 
we celebrate the act, not the time. True. But if 
God rested on the Sabbath, and it is celebrated 
therefor, then it is worship paid to rest, inaction, 
idleness, weakness. But Jesus rebuked this by 
saying : " My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." 
And if Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday, and 
Christians celebrate it therefor, it is worship paid to 
the active, working Son of Man who worked every 
day of the week, and they ought to heed his coun- 
sels and put away this Sunday superstition, which 
never belonged to Jesus or Paul. 



300 LECTURE, 

The fact is, this Age is the child of the Past. 
This Age partakes of the Past through the law of 
inheritance. The Mind of the Past though not 
alive and active now, has many monuments of 
thought standing to-day. Like an extinct volcano, 
though the fire be no longer seen, the mountain of 
lava is left. So we have our high and low days, 
our feast and fast days, our saint and secular days, 
our holy and profane days, all descended from the 
Past, with its star, and hero, and fire-worship. But 
these days must be all alike to God. The revolu- 
tion of the Earth on its axis is no more to him 
than the tick of a watch in a farmer's pocket. It is 
not the seventh part of a man's life that can be 
taken as holy, because he pays respect to some day 
therein. It is the holy life, which makes worthy 
the man. It is the aggregate of life which writes 
Holy or Unholy across the dial plate of Time. We 
reverence the Past more than we respect the 
Present. This is why our blind and foolish wor- 
ship of a day, is thought of more vital importance 
than a whole life of noble deeds, holy thoughts, and 
manly and womanly aspirations. This is Religion 
without Reason; nay, it is worse; it is a solemn 
sham which we are forbidden to laugh at. It has 
no authority which this Age is bound to respect. 
It has for a foundation only the statutes of men, 
arising from the profound ignorance of the world. 
The Sunday religion will not do to live by ; it is a 
Phantom which imposes on the mental vision. Be 



SUNDAY. 301 

Dot deceived ; the righteous act will always be re- 
warded of God ; the unholy act always be punished. 
It is your duty to act so well always, that a Jewish 
Sabbath or Christian Sunday, might blush of its 
own shame to look over the days of your life. 
That which thou findest good to do, do quickly and 
well ; and this will make the hour or the day holy 
to you, be it Saturday or Sunday. All time should 
be holy to man, as it is to God. Man should pro- 
nounce upon each day, " Well done, thou good and 
faithful servant, enter thou unto the joy of thy 
Lord." Each day man should labor, live temper- 
ately, and rest. Each day feed body and mind, 
and when from the diversity of employments he is 
made to neglect some part of the man, body or 
brain, the day of rest which custom brings should 
be devoted to restoring as much as possible the lost 
equilibrium, and thus the day will be honored in 
mending the man. 

In that little cottage, beyond the way, a poor 
farmer is mending his wife's shoes, on Sunday night. 
He is not old in years. He was a poor boy, and at 
twenty-one was set adrift without a dollar, to buffet 
the world. To share his toils, privations and joys, 
some kind companion in marriage, such a man 
nearly always finds. " By the sweat of thy face thou 
shalt earn thy bread," was lettered all over that face, 
and blistered into callous hands. He had served 
his country in the war, saved the remnant of his 
private's pay, bought him some land, built a little 



302 



LECTURE. 



house of his own; and there his early and late hours 
he consecrated to toil, l^ecessity, cold and stern, 
rather than see his little farm mortgaged for taxes, 
compels him to adopt the old adage of Poor Rich- 
ard: "A penny saved, is worth two earned." So 
he devotes the odd hours of rainy days and Sundays 
to rest, by doing the saving chores about the house. 
If he has saved a dollar by patching or half-soling 
his wife's shoes, in a few hour's time, on Sunday 
eve, how much is God injured thereby ? The man 
and the wife are certainly benefitted ; besides, it is 
a holy and comforting rest to muscles inured to 
heavier toil. And the good wife shares in the reli- 
gious exercise of her husband, with a thankful 
heart, and pays him with a kiss. Where is the in- 
jury to God or his government in this? Where is 
the law of the Almighty and Allwise, that this man 
has violated? It is not recorded. We find it not 
in the Flesh or Spirit of man, where God's ordi- 
nances are writ. We find it not in the Christian 
Bible, nor even in the Code of Justinian. He has 
violated no law of God, it is only a statute of Kansas. 
He has outraged no divine principle, no holy law, 
no holy day nor hour. It is only the most debased 
Superstition, worthy of a dead and heathen age 
which says: " this man sinned." 

Hard by this poor man's house, in a grove, on 
that same Sunday night, rainy and damp, a meeting 
of much noise and tumult, of loud preaching, loud 
praying, of shouting and singing, was protracted 



SUNDAY. 303 

into midnight. At a distance, or close approach, 
one would be reminded of the history of bacchanal 
revelry among ancient pagans. A curious and en- 
quiring man is always attracted by a great noise or 
a large multitude ; much more so when the noise 
proceeds from the multitude. Many respectable 
people are ashamed to be seen at such a meeting in 
open day. Half covered by the night, curiosity 
may take them there. What vast themes of specu- 
lation and thought are presented to the philosopher, 
on Man, Monkey, Animal; Reason, Instinct, Sensa- 
tion, as he looks in upon that herd of bellowing 
men and women, mingling their groans of devotion 
with the shouts of gladness, the screeching of frenzy 
with the songs of praise, and the prayers of the 
"vile sinner" with the outside curses of hucksters 
and hack-drivers. What wonder, also, must transfix 
the philosopher, as he beholds a heaving mass of 
men and women, in a sort of human pen, promis- 
cuously mixed, — standing up, lying down, falling 
prone, being held and bound, carried out as though 
dead, frothing at the mouth, muttering, babbling, 
uttering extravagant and foolish sentences, striking 
attitudes of devotion, with eyes uprolling, exhaust- 
ing breath and body in a wild frenzy ! He might 
pray for some Jesus to come back and cast the 
devils out of these men and women ; for their name 
is surely Legion here. He would invoke some 
Power to abolish this relic of barbarism, which is 
thrown athwart our civilization, in spite of the 



304 LECTURE, 

culture of this age. Shade of Cotytto, with thy 
followers, come back to us! In thy name, how 
many deeds are done at camp-meetings, which 
briug shame in days that follow? And yet, this 
is called Religion, and a sacred and wise use of this 
" holy day." 

The poor farmer, with his waxed ends and bits 
of leather, on Sunday night, stitches holy time into 
his life, because it benefits him and his dear one. 
And his duty done puts to shame this misguided 
popular Superstition which wastes the precious 
hours of human life in that which makes the body 
worse and the soul no purer. 

We have one more scene to present. It may be 
quickly told, and vividly imagined. On Monday 
morning, the poor farmer for his evening's labor, is 
summoned before the " squire " of the township. 
A camp-meeting " worshiper" had spied this wicked 
and vain fellow stitching away in good earnest. 
Christian spite, it was said, wrankled in the com- 
plainant's breast, but the farmer is not the victim of 
that alone. The Religion of the great State of 
Kansas has been disturbed. He comes in fresh 
from the prairie with the smell of new mown hay 
upon him. He had been baptised with the dew of 
the morning at God's baptismal font, and he feels at 
peac'C with God and himself. But the holy rites of 
labor and love were not sufficient to shield him from 
man's law, which he had violated. He acknowl- 
edges his guilt; he scorns to tell a lie, and Chris- 



SUKDAY, 305 

tianity is there vindicated in a fine which the poor 
man sells his only cow to pay. Christianity, where 
is thy blush ? The world demands a new Religion 
commensurate to its present growth, and highest 
civilization. That it will come, and that right soon, 
is inevitable. 



LECTURE. 

PR A YER~TRUE AND FALSE METHODS COMPARED. 

It is said : " Christ was eternally begotten of 
God," and the religion which took the name of 
Christ, is "the everlasting and true religion." It is 
also said, that " Jehovah is the father of Christ," 
and " prayer to the Father is prayer to Christ; and, 
conversely, prayer to Christ is prayer to Jehovah, 
God, and the Father." It follows legitimately, then, 
that the Jewish religion was Christianity, and prayer 
to Jehovah by a Jew, was the same as prayer to 
Christ by a Christian. Save, perhaps, that the Jew 
must have lived and said his prayer a day, year, or 
century before Jesus of l^azareth was born. " Since 
that period, any prayer," says the Christian, " ofi'ered 
by a Jew, as such, is an abomination in the ear of 
Jehovah." However this may be, I leave for those 
who think, to determine. 

There is a very ancient story which, perhaps, 
some Christians have not read. This story I will 
give, for it contains a moral as well, as shows the 
ancient method of revenge in prayer. A certain 
ancient king, ruled over a people at the eastern 



308 LECTURE, 

end of the Mediterranean. He was a great warrior, 
and enriched himself by pillaging the surrounding 
tribes, less strong in arms than his own people. 
This made him enemies at home and abroad. Be- 
sides he did some foolish things, as well as very 
wicked things, which brought upon him derision 
and contempt. For example, he danced naked be- 
fore a great multitude of men and women, upon a 
celebrated religious occasion, and, because upbraided 
by the queen, his wife, debauched himself, so that 
he even became base in his own sight. He after- 
wards murdered a man for the sake of adultery. 
It was therefore quite natural that this king should 
have enemies, and when he could not sufficiently 
punish them for their hatred, and satisfy his own 
revenge; when no word or act of his own would 
suffice, he goes down in prayer to his god, as fol- 
lows: " Set thou a wicked man over him; and let 
Satan stand at his right hand. When he shall be 
judged let him be condemned, and let his prayer 
become sin. Let his days be few ; and let another 
take his office. Let his children be fatherless, and 
his wife a widow. Let his children be continually 
vagabonds and beg ; let them seek their bread also 
out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner 
catch all that he hath; and let the stranger spoil 
his labor. Let there be none to extend mercy unto 
him ; neither let there be any to favor his fatherless 
children. Let his posterity be cut off; and in the 
generation following let their name be blotted out. 



PRAYER, 309 

Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with 
the Lord ; and let not the sin of his mother be 
blotted out. * * * * Let this be 
the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord, and 
of them that speak evil against my soul. But do 
thou for me, O God, the Lord for thy name's sake ; 
because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me." 

According to the popular rendering of the word 
Christian, this man was a Christian. Not only this, 
but he was the great progenitor of the god-man Jesus 
Christ, from his lustful and murderous wedlock 
with Uriah's wife, according to Saint Matthew. 

There are some who would be ashamed of such 
a genealogy. This arises from ignorance. Jesus of 
Nazareth need not be ashamed, for doubtless we all 
have sprung from beings as low in moral type as 
David, and David from still lower than himself. I 
think, however, the step is too short in time to 
develop so good a man as Jesus out of so base a 
man as David. It could only have been by the 
"saving grace" of several generations of mothers. 
The contrast in the two men is brought out most 
strikingly in comparing this prayer of David with 
what Jesus said. Here it is: " Ye have heard that 
it hath been said : Thou shalt love thy neighbor and 
hate thine enemy. But I say unto you : Love your 
enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to 
them that hate you, and pray for them which de- 
spitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may 
be the children of your Father which is in heaven ; 



310 LECTURE. 

for lie maketli Ms sun to rise on tlie evil and on the 
good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the un- 
just. * * * ^j^(j when thou prayest, thou shalt 
not be as the hypocrites are ; for they love to pray 
standing in the synagogues, and in the corners of 
the streets, that they may be seen of men. Yerily 
I say unto you: They have their reward. But thou, 
when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when 
thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which 
is in secret ; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, 
shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use 
not vain repetitions, as the heathen do; for they 
think they shall be heard for their much speaking. 
Be not ye, therefore, like unto them; for your 
Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before 
ye ask him." The contrast is so great, that the one 
is the contradictory of the other. The one says : 
"Love your enemies," and "pray for them which 
despitefuUy use you and persecute you;" the other 
prays to his god not only to curse his personal 
enemy, but to make the curse extend back to his 
mother, and forward to his children yet unborn. 
This is a curse with roots, trunk, and branches, and 
is the outgrowth of barbarism; whereas, Jesus 
expresses a high degree of moral attainment and 
philanthropic culture. The one makes his god a 
partaker and an assistant in his crimes, curses, and 
follies ; the other says : 

" He prayetli best wlio loveth best 
All thiUijs, both great and fluuill." 



PRAYER. 311 

It has been argued in favor of prayer, that " It 
was and is; therefore, means something." True. 
Just so war, theft, murder, slavery, lust, were and 
are; therefore, mean something. There is a terrible 
meaning to them all. They mean undeveloped man- 
hood. Some day we will outgrow them. The fact 
is, we are all dependent beings. We are immediately 
dependent on all nature about us : the air we breathe, 
the earth we tread, the sun that shines. We are 
dependent on each other, but mostly on ourselves, 
for immediate aid. 

And in acknowledgment of this dependence, man 
has to look two ways from the conscious self, out- 
wardly or distributively into Nature, and centrally 
inward through the conscious self upon infinite 
Mind. 

In this dependence we are not unlike many of the 
lower animals. Birds congregate in flocks, fishes 
in shoals, cattle and horses in herds. These ani- 
mals and also the lower types of mankind are all 
gregarious by instinct. I do not aflirm they con- 
gregate for the sole purpose of protection, having 
the idea or conscious knowledge of self-defense as a 
formative cause for this gregariousness ; ^-et self- 
defense, no doubt, is one of the principles whether 
conscious or instinctive, lying at the base of all 
associations, both of man and lower animals. The 
grazier of our Western prairies must have noticed, 
that a herd of cattle, if attacked by a dog, will often 
stand a wall of horns about the young of the herd, 



312 LECTURE. 

to protect them from harm. There is, also, much 
intelligence or intellect, if you please, exhibited in 
the animal creation below man; especially in those 
animals, the companions of man ; the horse, the ox, 
the dog. We have the experience of man, and also, 
the Bible for authority, that " The ox knoweth his 
owner and the ass his master's crib." These ani- 
mals, the associates of man, daily ask of him their 
daily bread. If fed they follow him, and abide by 
him, and cheerfully return the thanks of labor there- 
for; if not, they go elsewhere, and depend on their 
own art, or cunning, or knowledge for their daily 
support. It is much the same with rude, savage 
man. The Indian comes to the white man, and 
asks for bread. If fed, he comes again. The lazy, 
the weak-minded, the helpless; made so before birth 
through the ignorance of parents, or after it, by 
false education, unjust laws, or oppression, form an 
army of beggars in the world. These pray daily for 
bread, shelter and clothing ; pray to man and pray 
to God. 

For the purpose of this discussion, Prayer may 
be divided into three classes : 1. Petitioning God 
to give, or do something. 2. The striving to get, 
or do something legitimately ourselves. 3. The 
silent communion with God. 

1. Petitioning God to give or do something. 

This form of prayer is that which now generally 
prevails throughout the world. In this regard, there 
is no difference between the American Indian, the 



PRATER. 313 

!N"ew-Zealander, the Hottentot, Greek, Jew or Chris- 
tian; they all beg God for something, or to do 
something for them. There is a seeming dijBference 
in the character of the gods they worship, and in 
the manner of petitioning for divine acts and gifts; 
but the form of the prayer is the same, and the sup- 
posed relation of man to God is the same. 

It may be laid down as a proposition : The less 
the mind's capacity, or the more ignorant the person, 
the more debased will be the conception of God. 
From this we conclude the more fervent and fre- 
quent the prayer, the lower the development will be. 

If you look at the history of those people who 
think God embodied in a stick, or stone, or animal; 
who observe a fetich worship, they are of all people 
the most constant in prayer, the most devout in 
worship, the most aggrieved and exasperated when 
their object of worship is taken away or destroyed. 
Their history seems to be summed up in that wail of 
holy agony which has come down to us, and which 
is yet heard among the most debased of earth: 
" Yerily, ye have taken away our gods." The Ro- 
man soldier who, through ignorance, or willful folly, 
killed an Egyptian cat, was quickly dispatched, in 
the people's fierce fury. He had destroyed a god in 
this consecrated cat, or at least the abode of a god. 
In this low stage of human development, people 
prayed to what they supposed contained, or con- 
cealed a god, who must be thus present to hear their 
petitions. This gone, there was nothing to pray to. 



314 LEOWnB. 

Whom would those rude Egyptians ask, with face 
bowed down to earth in holy reverence, to bring 
back the great waters of the Mle to water the 
land and sprout the seed-corn ? Whom would they 
implore to save them from pestilence or visit ven- 
geance on their enemies?- Verily, their prayers 
would be wasted in empty sound ; their loud wail- 
ing and fervor of words would echo over plain, in 
palm grove, and grotto, all in vain. How often and 
how fervently these fetich worshipers pray aloud, 
wailing and agonizing to God. 

So also from mental darkness, not comprehend- 
ing the physical and warring forces of I^ature, 
which produce their varied manifestations to eye 
and ear, often bringing pain and death to man, he 
has learned to worship what he fears. Thus the 
tiger is worshiped by many tribes, and its nose 
used as a charm. In Abyssinia the hyena's skin is 
prayed over, and exorcised by a priest, before the 
inhabitants dare touch it. In Siberia great and 
reverential respect is paid to bears. Snakes have 
been worshipped from the earliest historic period. 
The Hindus worship Siva, the Destroyer, who is 
represented with a deadly serpent hanging over his 
left shoulder. Allied to this was the worship of the 
Esculapian serpent of the Greeks, and the Brazen 
serpent of Moses. Even the Devil, in our popular 
mythology, is worshiped by some as the Old Ser- 
pent. In this worship, prayer may be addressed to 
the god incarnated in these animals ; or who is exte- 



PRAYER, 315 

rior to them, and using them as instruments of 
punishment. 

The American indian has a great Indian Spirit 
to worship. To this Spirit he often prays long, and 
loud, and earnestly. A few years ago, a few com- 
panies of Osage Indians were enlisted for the war. 
For two months I studied their character and habits 
of worship. An aged Indian, I soon found, they had 
as a spiritual adviser, or priest. Every morning, at 
about four o'clock, he would begin his divine ejacu- 
lations, making the whole camp ring. "Eo bugler 
need sound the reveille while he was with us. I had 
recourse to an interpreter, who translated, on sev- 
eral occasions, the prayer of this Indian priest ; and 
it is curious to know how earnestly he besought 
God to discover to him, and his Indian associates, 
the place of very many, "heap" ponies, and to aid 
them to steal them, and to steal them easy ; which 
prayers were literally fulfilled on two occasions. 
The last time they all deserted in a body, taking 
with them about five hundred stolen horses. [N'oth- 
ing could make the Indian believe the divine agency 
was not the ruling cause of this success. Such is 
their faith in prayer, I was assured by the half-breed 
interpreter, they would never engage in any haz- 
ardous undertaking, in any great thefts, without 
imploring divine aid. ISTow, it is a fact, that Chris- 
tianity has tried in vain to teach these savage people 
any higher conception of God, any more Christian 
form of prayer. 



316 LECTVRE. 

For the last thirty years has the Government, 
through schools and missions, tried in vain to con- 
vert a single Osage Indian to Christianity, or to 
civilized life. Half-breed Christians we sometimes 
find. So that Christianity may be promulgated, 
among them, only by infusion of Christian blood. 
Their religion, their prayer, is a part of their rude 
spiritual development. They believe that God is 
fond of bear-meat, as the ancient Hebrew believed 
Jehovah loved the smell of the burnt flesh and blood 
of bulls and goats; and they ask with child-like con- 
fidence any favor their hearts desire. 

One-third of the praying population of the world 
bows down to images of Buddha. Those people have 
lived and died for ages, without any knowledge of 
the Christian god ; without any knowledge of the 
practical workings of Christianity ; and so they still 
live, standing amongst the most devout and prayerful 
people on the face of the globe. At this day one 
hundred and sixty million Mahometans profess the 
Islam, and worship (to them) the only true God. 
Five times each day they turn their faces towards 
Mecca, and offer up prayer. The most noticeable 
feature in their worship is prayer. In this their 
zeal is unbounded; no impending crisis in their 
affairs, neither death of friends, fire, pestilence, 
famine; nothing but the fierce heat of a holy battle, 
can withdraw the devout Moslem from prayer. "In 
every town a public crier awakes the inhabitants, 
and calls the faithful to prayer." As the sun begins 



PRAYER. 317 

to streak the eastern horizon, awakening the world 
from slumber, the faithful crier is heard to sound 
forth: *' Prayer is better than sleep;" or: "Awake 
to the best work." And then these children of 
Islam, to whom the only true prophet had given 
the hope of Paradise, pray, as with one voice, to the 
god who has chosen them a special people. Thus, 
at daylight, at noon, in the afternoon, at sunset, and 
one hour and a quarter after sunset, their voice may 
be heard imploring God to give divine aid, and to 
answer prayer. 

The Hebrews were very earnest in prayer. The 
twentieth chapter of Genesis shows how Abraham, 
a prophet, leagued with Jehovah to impose on 
Abimelech, to defraud and fleece a man of better 
integrity than the prophet or his god. Moses, in 
the thirty-second chapter of Exodus, is recorded as 
standing in the breach between the children of Israel 
and Jehovah, to turn away his fierce wrath and pre- 
vent a total destruction ; which is accomplished by 
appeals to his vanity and pride; working a positive 
change in the designs of Jehovah. Only a man like 
David, with a rude spiritual nature, living in low, 
animal gratification, who could murder for the sake 
of adultery, would be found guilty of praying the 
prayer of the one hundred and ninth psalm. 

The Feejees pray that God will deliver the 
bodies of their enemies into their hands, that they 
may feast on them. They pray with more fervor 
for the wives of their enemies; for the Feejee epi" 



318 LECTURE. 

cures prefer to eat the flesh of women to that of 
men. There is but a short step, in spiritual develop- 
ment, from the Feejee, asking God to deliver his 
enemy's wife into his hands, that he may have a 
feast of good things, to that of David, who prays 
against his personal enemy, as follows: "Let Satan 
stand at his right hand; when he shall be judged let 
him be condemned, and let his jprayer become sin. 
Let his children be continually vagabonds and beg; 
neither let there be any to favor them." 

David stands in much closer relationship, spir- 
itually, to the Feejee than to Jesus of Nazareth. 
The Osage Indian, who asked his god to help him 
steal ponies, and the Jewish king, who asked his 
god to help him curse his personal enemy, stand on 
the same religious plane. 

Now God, in his own good way, permits all these 
prayers of the heathen. He permitted the very 
wicked prayer of David, no less than he permits the 
prayer of the blind fetich worshiper, who bows down 
to " stock and stones." He also permits worshiping, 
praying cannibals to exist ; and hears every utter- 
ance, and every heart-felt emotion. He has his own 
good way in developing the race. There is an in- 
fancy of religion and worship as well as an infancy 
of intellect and good manners. The form of prayer 
serves to express the soul's development. In prayer 
we see the spirit of man revolving about the axis 
of his own selfishness, not God, who swings round 
daily to be advised about matters and things in the 



PRAYER. 319 

world. I do not say the Feejee-Islander sins in 
prayer, though rude and barbarous, praying to grat- 
ify a desire for human flesh; neither do I say David 
sinned in the curse of his prayer. He knew no bet- 
ter. He told to the world the degree of his own 
spiritual development. There is no fact so plainly 
stamped on the face of the world's history, as this 
constant, ever progressive change of the world's 
worship. The religious faculty of man is not un- 
dergoing any change, but Reason is guiding it 
onward to Truth and Knowledge. In the lower 
orders of mankind how rude and selfish are their 
prayers ; how vain their appeals must be ; praying 
for the basest gratifications; praying through the 
spirit of revenge, jealousy, appetite, lust. We need 
not go out of our own age to find every possible 
form of prayer that ever mouth uttered ; the prayer 
of the cannibal, the pirate, the thief; the prayer of 
David and the hypocrite ; the prayer of the slave 
for freedom, and the prayer of the master; the 
prayer of Pagan, and Jew, and Christian, to the god 
of Mahomet, and Moses, and Jesus. Yes, all are 
going up this very hour, and all are earnest and 
honest, except that of the hypocrite ; and God hears 
them all. Omnipresence can not turn a deaf ear ; 
besides he would be unfaithful to the race if he did; 
not that God answers every fool's babbling that is 
heard in prayer, yet the pirate's prayer does not 
grieve him. Once a child three years old, cried and 
prayed his father to go and bring the new moon to 



320 LECTURE, 

him, lie wanted it for a cart-wheel. This prayer of 
the child did not grieve the father; he rejoiced at the 
genius of the child. Uneducated brains prayed for 
the moon ; educated brains might laugh at the folly. 

In my early religious reading, a copy of the 
Spectator fell into my hands, and I never shall for- 
get the impression which the following fable made 
upon my mind. I transcribe it, because the Specta- 
tor is now so seldom read. The beauty of the 
fable is, the name of any other great national god 
will answer just as well as Jupiter: 

" Menippus, the philosopher, was a second time 
taken up into heaven by Jupiter ; when, for his en- 
tertainment, he lifted up a trap-door that was placed 
by his footstool. At its rising there issued through 
it such a din of cries as astonished the philosopher. 
Upon his asking what they meant, Jupiter told him 
they were the prayers that were sent up to him 
from the earth. Menippus, amidst the confusion of 
voices, which were so great that nothing less than 
the ear of Jove could distinguish them, heard the 
words: * riches,' 'honor,' and Hong life' repeated 
in several different tones and languages. When the 
first hubbub of sounds was over, the trap-door being 
left open, the voices came up more separate and 
distinct. The first prayer was a very odd one. It 
came from Athens, and desired Jupiter to increase 
the wisdom and the beard of his humble supplicant. 
Menippus knew it, by the voice, to be the prayer of 
his friend Licander, the philosopher. This was sue- 



PRAYER. 321 

ceeded by the petition of one who had just laden a 
ship, and promised Jupiter, if he took care of it, 
and returned it home again full of riches, he would 
make him an offering of a silver cup. Jupiter 
thanked him for nothing; and bending down his 
ear more attentively than ordinary, heard a voice 
complaining to him of the cruelty of an Ephesian 
widow, and begging him to breed compassion in 
her heart. ' This,' says Jupiter, ' is a very honest 
fellow; I will not be so cruel to him as not to hear 
his prayers.' He was then interrupted by a whole 
volley of vows, which were made for the health of 
a tyrannical prince, by his subjects, who prayed for 
him in his presence. Menippus was surprised, after 
hearing prayers offered up with so much ardor and 
devotion, to hear low whispers from the same 
assembly, expostulating with Jove for suffering 
such a tyrant to live, and asking him how his thun- 
der could lie idle. Jupiter was so offended at these 
prevaricating rascals, that he took down the first 
vows, and puffed away the last. The philosopher, 
seeing a great cloud mounting upwards, and making 
its way directly to the trap-door, inquired of Jupiter 
what it meant. 'This,' says Jupiter, 'is a whole 
hecatomb that is offered me by the general of an 
army, who is very importunate with me to let him 
cut off a hundred thousand men that are drawn up 
in array against him. What does the impudent 
"svretch think I see in him, to believe that I will 
make a sacrifice of so many mortals as good as 



322 LECTURE. 

himself; and all this to his glory, forsooth? But 
hark/ says Jupiter, * there is a voice I never heard, 
but in time of danger. It is a rogue that is ship- 
wrecked in the Ionian sea. I saved him on a plank 
but three days ago, upon his promise to mend his 
manners. The scoundrel is not worth a groat, and 
yet has the impudence to offer me a temple if I will 
keep him from sinking. But yonder,' says he, Ms 
a special youth for you. He desires me to take his 
father, who keeps a great estate from him, out of 
the miseries of human life. The old fellow shall 
live till he makes his heart ache; I can tell him that 
for his pains.' This was followed up by the soft 
voice of a pious lady, desiring Jupiter that she 
might appear amiable and charming in the sight of 
her emperor. As the philosopher was reflecting on 
this extraordinary petition, there blew a gentle wind 
through the trap-door, which he at first mistook for 
a gale of zephyrs; but afterwards found it to be a 
breeze of sighs. They smelt strong of flowers and 
incense, and were succeeded by most passionate 
complaints, of wounds and torments, fire and ar- 
rows, cruelty, despair, and death. Menippus fancied 
that such lamentable cries arose from some general 
execution, or from wretches lying under the torture; 
but Jupiter told him that they came up to him from 
the isle of Paphos, and that he every day received 
complaints of the same nature from that whimsical 
tribe of mortals who are called lovers. 'I am so 
trifled with,' says he, *by this generation of both 



PRATER, 323 

sexes that I find it impossible to please them, 
whether I grant or refuse their petitions, that I shall 
order a western wind, for the future, to intercept 
them in their passage and blow them at random 
upon the earth.' The last petition I heard was from 
a very aged man of near a hundred years old, beg- 
ging but for one year more of life and then promis- 
ing to die contented. ' This is the rarest old fellow,' 
says Jupiter. ^ He has made this prayer to me for 
above twenty years together. When he was but 
fifty years old, he desired only that he might live to 
see his son settled in the world; I granted it. lie 
then begged the same favor for his daughter and 
afterwards, that he might see the education of a 
grandson; when all this was brought about, he puts 
up a petition that he might live to finish a house he 
was building. In short, he is an unreasonable old 
cur, and never wants an excuse. I will hear no 
more of him.' Upon which he flung down the 
trap-door in a passion, and was resolved to give no 
more audiences that day." 

It is, perhaps, useless to say, the above fable is 
the short history of the praying world to-day, and 
it matters not whether the petitions are sent up to 
" Jehovah, Jove or Lord." But " prayer was and 
is ; therefore means something." Who shall answer 
what it nieans ? 

To-day let us listen a moment to the prayers 
which are ascending and descending from the great 
throat of mankind, all over the earth. Imagine 



324 LECTURE. 

one-third of the praying population asking Buddha 
for bread. Many million Mahometans bowing to- 
wards Mecca, asking Allah to extend their holy 
religion over the heathen Christian lands. Imagine 
the Christians imploring God, as with one voice, 
to extend Christianity over the heathen Mahome- 
tan land, each professing to worship the true God 
and in the true spirit. See the Catholic, with 
earnest fervor, praying some soul out of purgatory ; 
pleading with Christ to overcome God, and make 
his wrath relax. See the Protestant asking god to 
open the poor Catholic's eyes, and show him the 
true Christianity. See the Baptist and Campbell- 
ite praying in the wintry water waist deep, in the 
name of the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost. See 
the more comfortable Congregationalist, sprinkling 
his prayer in the face of Heaven. Hear all the de- 
nominations of the popular faith in America, teasing 
God to " come down and show his great power in 
converting sinners; to come miraculously, and 
make his power felt, for his glory, and for Christ's 
sake." Plear the teasing for rain, for large crops, 
for temporal and spiritual prosperity ; begging God 
to do the work he designed man to do, both of hand 
and head. Hear the teasing to save from the perils 
of storm and pestilence ; to save from their ene- 
mies ; and to miraculously save the souls of sinners, 
by getting them into the Church. Go back a few 
years, and hear the earnest petitioners of the North, 
praying the " God of mighty battle" to give victory 



PRATER. 325 

to the boys in blue ; and also the earnest petition- 
ers of the South praying the same god to give vic- 
tory to the boys in grey. See with what bloody 
sweat the prayers ascended from many a battle 
field to the "God who heard and answered prayer." 
The one prayer the very opposite of the other. ^N'ot, 
however, would he answer, till fiery words of 
prayer from the cannon's throat had sent thou- 
sands to their graves ; and the steady tramp of boys 
a-marching four long years, 'mid the rattle of mus- 
ketry and the clashing of sabres brought victory to 
our arms. Then he deigned to answer. 

It is said, Jefferson Davis is a Christian, and a 
praying man. Certain we are that many a Chris- 
tian, under him, in the Rebel army, prayed to the 
Christian's god to destroy the Union, and especially, 
to remove Abraham Lincoln. Did the Christian's 
god kill Lincoln by the hand of Booth? Was it 
done in answer to prayer ? or was it done in ven- 
geance, because he was not a Christian, nor believed 
in the Christian's god ? Let Christianity, both South 
and North, answer. These are questions which 
Christians have already discussed. 

One fact well understood would put an end to 
all the special prayers of Christendom, viz : God is 
no respecter of persons. The rain will fall upon 
the farm of the infidel as well as on that of the 
Christian. The atheist, even, who believes in blind 
fate, and the fortuitous occurrence of things, if he 
plant his corn in as good soil in the spring time and 



326 LEOIURF. 

not in August; if lie plant the best varieties of 
seed ; if lie till the ground as well, and obey the 
natural laws of the corn and seasons, will raise just 
as good corn on a Kansas prairie as the Christian 
deacon will. The material universe is arranged to 
accommodate all God's children alike. There is no 
such difference in the physical structure of men, 
that a doctor, in dissecting the body or brain of an 
infidel, could distinguish him from a church deacon, 
and point out the peculiar theological tenets of each. 
Both are made on a general plan. The one feels 
pain and pleasure, loves food and society, property 
and children, laughs and weeps, walks and talks, 
the same as the other ; is born the same, grows the 
same, lives on the same air and substance as the 
other, coils up his feet in death and goes back to his 
God the same, " the dust to dust and spirit to spirit." 
God watches over and provides for the Christian, 
Greek, and Jew, the Pagan, Atheist, and Infidel, all 
the same. We are all children of the same impar- 
tial God, brothers and sisters to Mary, and Judas, 
and Jesus. Lobelia will vomit, and strychnine will 
poison the devout Christian, as well as the devout 
Moslem, or Infidel. Fire will burn, water drown, 
and lightning kill ; the one as readily as the other. 
The Sun does not withhold his light and heat, the 
Moon does not veil her face, the Rain does not fail 
to fall, the ISTight to distill her dew, the Corn to grow, 
the Flower to bloom, because a devout Christian 
and a bigoted Infidel disagree about the nature of 



PRAYER. 327 

God, nor because a devout Infidel and a bigoted 
Christian fail to agree about miracles. Nothing is 
withheld or given to one of God's children, because 
of any special reverence one may have for him, more 
than another; nor because of any special prayer put 
up by saint or sinner. He is unchangeably the same 
impartial God, the same yesterday, to-day, and for- 
ever, developing Earth, plant and animal, by and 
through general Laws. Hence, when a rock is 
loosened from the mountain top, by the denuding 
action of a storm, and is hurled down by the force 
of gravity, it may tear off the limb of a tree, and a 
man, in its course, for which cause the tree is ren- 
dered imperfect, and the man goes limp the rest of 
his days. In order to save the man's limb, God 
would have to suspend the force of Gravity, whereby 
he sustains a universe of worlds, and whereby he 
gives sure footing to whole races of men. So, also, 
hard by, in the same storm which loosened the rock 
from the mountain's peak, a man and tree were 
felled by the lightning's stroke. In order to save the 
man and tree, God would have to suspend the elec- 
tric force, which, doubtless, is of much more value 
than the lives of whole nations of men. Nor does 
it make any difference whether the man be very 
pious or wicked, still, the lightning would strike the 
one as readily as the other. 

A man of much nobility of life and religion was 
killed by lightning in the harvest field ; while his 
neighbor, an impious man, cursed god for sending 



328 LECTURE. 

the rain on Ms unstacked grain and was spared; 
whereupon the wife of the deceased, in her prayer, 
said, God was unjust, for "he should have stricken 
down the wicked and spared the good man." IN'o 
douht, God looks alike upon the pious scolding of 
the wife, for her husband's sake, and the impious 
zeal of her neighbor, for his harvest's sake. They 
both mistook the Perfect and Absolute God for a 
partial and capricious person who dealt out the 
thunderbolt to suit his fancy. 

A mother got angry at her mischievous child ; 
she raised her hand and struck it; whereupon the 
mother was hurt as badly as the child. This exas- 
perated the mother still more, and she exclaimed . 
"I wish to God my hands were iron that I might 
crush you !" Suppose God had granted her prayer; 
iron hands would have annoyed her more than the 
mischief of her child. This prayer was foolish, 
thoughtless and selfish. So, also, have been nearly 
all the prayers of the world from Joshua down to 
Brigham Young, and would never have been offered 
up, had not the petitioner projected, in conception 
his own image on the infinite back-ground, and 
worshiped that as his 'god; who is supposed to 
nod assent to man's spiritual yearning, which re- 
volves about the axis of his own selfishness. 

The Christian, whether Catholic, Protestant or 
Mormon, beholds God and heavenly visions through 
the mental lenses of small or great magnifying 
power, as they have been given him, or he has made 



PRATER, 329 

them. He may be deceived as lie looks tlirougli his 
little spy-glass, because ignorant of phenomena and 
the laws relating thereto ; false notions may obscure 
his object glass; it may be covered with dust, incident 
to the material world; it may be warped by pas- 
sion, or dimmed by lust; it may be darkly spotted 
by crime; it may be dwarfed and narrow, unfitted 
to take in a large scope of earth, much less to sweep 
the heavens. All these things incident to the finite 
man, limited and controlled by time and circumstan- 
ces, will warp his judgment and obscure the mental 
vision. Thus, God shines in through the imperfect 
mental spy-glass, and he is dwarfed and distorted 
into a partial and selfish creature. We forget 
that man was not born into the world like fabled 
Minerva, fully armed and equipped from the brain of 
Jove, but was born a great babe and made to grow. 
We forget that in his growth the Unseen Foree^ 
in a wide, wise, and universal providence has 
brought him up from a low estate, gradually on to 
higher and holier life, step by step, in mighty 
human heart-throbs of improvement; one great 
movement of reform succeeding another, like the 
waves of ocean breaking on the shores of Time ; the 
ocean now ebbing, to be followed by the rising 
tide, and the waves rolling upward and onward for- 
ever. 

In all this onward movement, the vision of man 
is limited by the horizon of his own ignorance, and 
when his corn-crop suffers from the drouth, and his 



330 LECTURE. 

potatoes are eaten up by the rot, or his winter 
wheat by the grasshoppers, he thinks the machinery 
of this world quite imperfect and worn out ; so he 
goes down in prayer to his god, asking him to send 
the rain, and heal the potato and sweep out the 
grasshopper. Not long since, in Kansas, we had 
grasshoppers. Special petitions were sent up for 
the squelching or driving out of these little pests ; 
as much as to say : " God, you don't know your 
own business, let us teach you." Even a pressure 
(though failing in its object) was made by godly 
men, on the Governor, for a general day of prayer, 
when all voices could concentrate at one hour and 
moment, and so as by much noise, storm the citadel 
of God's throne, and strike the great tympanum of 
his ear in one vast spasmodic effort; compel him to 
hear, and order him down with his besom to sweep 
out the grasshoppers. But the little grasshoppers 
hatched out, and millions of them died of the un- 
congenial clime; many were eaten up by birds, and 
consumed by parasites ; and at last when God had 
completed their mission, he led the remainder back 
through the air on their own wings. The reason 
why God would not answer all these pious prayers 
against the grasshopper, is because he is the God of 
the grasshopper as well as the Christian. When 
the Irish were starving from the potato rot, what 
thousands of prayers were sent up for the potato 
and the Irish. Yet this was the only method God 
had of teaching men how to raise potatoes, and to 



PRAYER. 831 

improve the seed. God has appointed the rain its 
season, has made the plant to grow, and improve, and 
die by fixed laws, has produced each animal for the 
sphere of its own operations, and when man com- 
plains at the annoyance of insect, animal, flood, 
drouth, he only scolds because of his own ignorance. 
And his prayer to God, because of these, is no more 
answered than the prayer of a mosquito, thirsting 
for blood. The good housewife, g^t her pastry cook- 
ing, in the summer time, is tormented and nearly 
provoked to swearing by flies, which are preying 
on her sweetmeats. She wishes to God flies had 
never been made. How thoughtless is her prayer ! 
Those little scavengers are connected with the causes 
of the bloom of health on her cheek ; while she is 
fretting and scolding, and charging God with fool- 
ishness, he is watching over the health of a whole 
people, by sending these countless insects to eat up 
the pestilence which is breeding around her. Sup- 
pose it were possible for the fly and mosquito to 
pray, the fly would pray for sugar, the mosquito for 
blood. ]N'ot one in a hundred million, of these, 
get what they would pray for ; and thus it is of all 
the prayers that are offered up ; perhaps not one in 
a hundred million is answered. The reason is plain. 
God knows best how to take care of and develop 
the race. Could he be importuned by man, in his 
finite weakness and blindness, very soon the great 
harmony of creation would be repealed at the altar 
of prayer. Men would pray for what they supposed 



332 LJ^CTtTRJS. 

great blessings to mankind, but only tbe worst re- 
sults would follow. God would kill at one fell-blow 
the great Doubting Heart, which goes out in un- 
beaten paths, searching after Truth. The pioneers 
in religious and political reform would be cut down 
as vile cumberers of the ground. Many a bold 
tongue, uttering God's oracles, would be silenced, 
and many an ear deafened. 

We have fast and prayer days for the whole land, 
or for whole communities, when men congregate to 
pray at a mark; so as to direct the divine arrow in a 
centre shot, to knock the heart out of some real or 
imaginary evil. Prayers are offered up for rulers, 
and legislators, and " all others in authority," as 
though praying for men who are in authority, will 
do the whole business, and make them wise, effi- 
cient and honest. Wisdom, however, comes by the 
prayers of birth and education, and many a toilsome 
hour in study and discussion, and inward thought 
and outward act. If this is to be obtained by some 
minister praying wisdom into these rulers and men 
in authority, we had better elect the softest and 
most passive pieces of human flesh and spirit possi- 
ble, and set them up at a certain time and place for 
everybody to centre the prayerful shot at them ; so 
that they may be imbued with knowledge, by a sort 
of super-induction, miraculously through prayer, 
moving God to do something for them he had failed 
to do. If this method of prayer is at all efficacious 
and not blasphemous, we ought to dispense with our 



PRATER, 333 

school-houses and colleges, and only have recourse 
to the pulpit and prayer-meeting. lN"ow, praying 
for a ruler does not make him better, wiser or 
worthier. Unless he prays himself, and strives to 
reach the good, and to be wise by a daily and hourly 
striving of labor and industry, in the practice of 
righteousness, the devoutest prayer for him is only 
empty noise. As well pray to raise the dead. 

Then, also, to pray in the popular method, and 
keep truth within the prayer, either the minister 
offends his hearers, or asks God to do what he must 
know he never will do. Hence, he babbles to God 
rather than offend his hearers ; e. g.: I pray that God 
will "bless my whole congregation," or "bless a 
dying world." Now, suppose in my congregation 
there are women with deformed waists from tight 
lacing ; others with dyspeptic stomachs from intem- 
perate eating; others with nervous affections from 
the use of narcotics and living an improper life ; as 
many men who are intemperate in various habits; 
use tobacco, get drunk, lie and cheat ; and without 
singling out the good, and specifying those whom 
God would naturally bless, because they had lived 
in harmony with his laws, I indiscriminately say: 
"Oh! God, bless this entire congregation;" and I 
send the petition up with earnestness and closed 
eyes. Imagine a spiritual finger tenderly tapping 
my shoulder in the midst of my devotional exercise, 
and a voice, audible to my spirit, saying: "Stop! 
unfaithful servant ; not so fast. Have you taken a 



334 LECTURE, 

list of your congregation, and an inventory of their 
sins, errors, and follies? Stop a little; you are 
going it blind. Open your eyes, and see the ruin 
and curse many of these people have brought on 
themselves by not harmonizing their life with 
my holy and unalterable laws. These I never re- 
peal, to accommodate the most favored child of 
Earth or Heaven. 'Eo prayer can annul the effect 
of violated law. I can not, and will not, bless these 
deformed and sickly bodies. I will not send bles- 
sings upon intemperance, fashionable folly, and 
sinful manners. This is contrary to my way of 
doing business ; always and forever. Your prayer 
is useless ; your words are nonsense, if you did but 
know it, spoken in dreadful ignorance of my modes 
of operation; or else meant only to tickle the ear, 
and please the vanity of your hearers. Either unfits 
you for my ministry. Stop your babbling; go, seek 
other labor. I have never * called' you to teach, 
when you ask me to violate my own laws, while 
you make an eloquent prayer to please your congre- 
gation." These are reflections which must naturally 
arise before the honest expounder of God's laws, 
when he thinks of petitioning God to do something 
for some particular people, at some particular time 
and place. 

Then the effect on the minister must be bad. It 
makes a praying machine of him, which on certain 
days of the week, at fixed hour and minute, repeats, 
year in and year out, the same petition, to the same 



I BAYERS 335 

God, for the same purpose, without ever being an- 
swered. Like a clock, made to strike the hour of 
the day, he strikes ofl' the daily or weekly prayer. 
Hypocrisy must only be the result to the human 
soul fi'om such a practice. 

And thus it has come to be a fact. The Church 
hides, unwittingly perhaps, all the vices, tyrannies, 
wrongs of the world behind the pulpit. Suppose 
the whole Christian world would now stop praying 
in the pulpit, what would be the result ? Instead 
of asking God to cure these vices, destroy these 
tyrannies and right these wrongs, the praying 
world would set about the work itself, and more 
would be accomplished in a twelve-month than now 
can be done in twelve centuries. 

ITow, I do not mention these special prayers to 
bring ridicule upon them. Far be it from me to 
speak lightly of any form of devotional exercise; 
but only to let you see the foolishness of these old 
methods, and lead you out to a higher, and wiser, 
and saner worship. Far be it from me to deride ; 
I would only be mocking at the child that cried to 
have the moon for a cart wheel. I would not laugh 
at, nor scold the babe that fell more times than it 
had fingers, in walking the first time from father to 
mother ; no more would I throw stones at the oldest 
orthodox child that ever stumbled over Trinity or the 
Devil. The savage who bows down to wood and 
stone, and devoutly prays, I would not deride. He 
is full a step lower than the Mahometan and Chris- 



336 LECTURE. 

tian, and is fully as sincere as they. He is feeling 
out, in prayer, after God, and the weakness of his 
intellect, and his meager knowledge, make his 
mouth to utter folly. Yet, the Father of the savage 
and Jesus looks the same upon the prayer of each. 

n. The striving to get or do something legiti- 
mately ourselves. 

I, also, believe in prayer. JSTot asking God to 
come down from Heaven, or striving to conjure him 
up from the earth, for he is already here, close to us 
all. He needs no prayer, uttered or voiceless. "We 
need not call aloud, for he hears the silent murmur- 
ings of the life rushing in our bodies. He hears its 
stillest thought- whisper. I do not believe in prayer, 
asking or imploring God to do something for us. 
He has done already all that is needful, and the 
work to be done is on our part. When God formed 
us in his all comprehending wisdom, every want of 
man he took into consideration, and provided for it 
in act and knowledge, far back in the lap of Time. 
The mysteries of our life, the development of our 
bodies, the secret workings of our spirit, he smiled 
upon, away back in the thoughtless ages. He knew 
every stumble of the world's children in stepping 
towards the spiritual light. He knew all the pains, 
the sorrows, and sufferings, of the mortal life of ages 
of people. He counted all the happiness, and num- 
bered all the holy and unholy prayers and oaths, 
that should come from the lip of mankind. He was 
not taken by surprise when David murdered Uriah 



PRAYER. 337 

for the sake of adultery, and prayed the wicked 
prayer against his enemy, and asked God to curse 
innocent children. And he knew long ages ago, 
when the world was unborn in time, that Jesus, who 
had the true idea of prayer, would teach a higher 
conception of God, and a holier religion than mod- 
ern Christian has yet found. But there is a practical 
prayer we all need. We want to pray with muscu- 
lar energy; with axes and saws; with plows and 
hoes; with reapers and mowers; with horses and 
cattle; with steam and lightning, for the salvation 
of the bodies and souls of men. Ministers pray for 
the salvation of souls, in the pulpit. How vain the 
petition! The soul's development is its salvation. 
Its development is a growth from an inward force, 
a continual prayer of upward striving. Praying for 
rain, for dear life, for health, for harvests, for souls, 
by word of mouth, is all the weakness of undevel- 
oped brains. Such prayers are never answered. 
But if the sturdy farmer goes forth in the spring- 
time, planting the seed-corn, even though it be in 
toilsome and prayerful sweat, he anticipates the rain 
which the good God sends on the just and the un- 
just: and thus, at length, his prayer is answered in 
developed muscles and ripened harvests. This 
prayer puts to shame the most fervent petitioner 
doing lip service to God, asking for temporal bles- 
sings. Temporal blessings are ours only through 
the prayer of head and hand. They come by 

obeying God's laws, never by verbal praying. So, 

V 



338 LECTURE. 

also, if tlie father and motlier pray for sound chil- 
dren, in mind and body, they search out God's laws 
of pro-creation, in severe and arduous study, and 
apply wisdom to themselves, with wise intent and 
hopeful trust, long before the child is born. God 
never fails to answer such people's prayers, in hale 
and happy children; who are born heirs of God, 
and joint heirs with Jesus, and every other god-like 
soul that has come into the world to adorn and 
bless it. 

The attention of the masses must be directed to 
the facts of Science : life, thought, being ; the body, 
and its development ; the mind, and its unfolding. 
Public prayer, whether at church or camp-meeting, 
never saved a soul before or after it was born. To 
this end people must pray at the family altar of a 
holy marriage, whose inner courts are sacred to God 
and man. 

in. The silent Communion with God. 

Let us look at the teaching of Jesus in regard to 
prayer. The more I study the character, teachings, 
and times of that noble ^tTazarene, the more I ad- 
mire him. Even encrusted with the teachings ot 
the churches of to-day, falsified and abused in many 
a creed; yet it we read with a half-eye open to 
truth, we can find more than all the churches con- 
tain. Here is what he says about prayer: "And 
when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypo- 
crites are; for they love to pray standing in the 
synagogue, and in the corners of the streets, that 



PRAYER. 339 

they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, 
they have their reward. But thou, when thou 
pray est, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast 
shut thy door, pray to thy Father, which is in secret, 
and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward 
thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repeti- 
tion as the heathen do ; for they think they shall be 
heard for their much speaking. Be not ye, there- 
fore, like unto them; for your Father knoweth 
what things ye have need of, before ye ask him." 
This is the whole story. Volumes could not make 
it plainer. True prayer is the secret, silent com- 
munion with God. It is so secret, that it is best 
and sincerest when alone. IsTo hypocrite goes into 
his soul's closet to pray. You want to go away 
alone, lock out the world, turn the eyes within, 
commune with God; who knows better than you 
what you want; who knows your most secret 
thought. How useless are words, then. This 
prayer will make you pure in spirit ; and the pure 
in spirit shall see God. I have often thought, if 
Jesus were here on earth, he would cry out: " Stop 
this begging in public ; away with your hypocritical 
nonsense ; enter your soul's closet ; there you will 
find God." 

If we cast aside the spurious Fourth gospel, and 
take Matthew's account of Jesus, we find he never 
prayed in public. He would not even let Peter, 
and James, and John, when alone with them, ago- 
nizing in Gethsemane, hear him pray. Three times 



340 LECTURE. 

he went away, alone, to pray ; and then he asked 
nothing which was not in accordance with the 
Father's Avill. 

In this sense all things pray, and God always 
answ^ers. Man feels hunger; he desires food; he 
reaches forth his hand and partakes. This is the 
fact in regard to God's providence ; he does not feed 
his grown-up babes with a spoon. They must them- 
selves not only handle, but make the spoon. They 
must make their clothing and shelter, and gather 
the fuel for warmth. There is not a beast of the 
field, or bird of the air, but prays ; not a tree, or 
flower, or blade of grass, but prays ; nay, old earth 
itself prays, and the Sun responds with the coloring, 
warming, and vivifying ray. But this only means : 
God answers prayer. 

People go to prayer-meeting as though God 
would be easier moved by a concert of verbal action. 
Such prayer never reaches beyond the church door; 
never gets behind the counter; never takes hold of 
the plow handles, looking not back; never carries 
the hod of mortar up the mason's ladder, even while 
erecting churches to God. If such prayers are 
merely a social repast, they may be well with some, 
but to me as with Jesus of Nazareth, it would be 
better in silence and alone. The sweet hour of 
prayer comes silently, cheerfully, hopefully, like 
the sua rising out of the ocean, bringing the day- 
spring from on high to the mariner on life's sea. 
So prayer may become the outpouring of a thank- 



PRAYER. 341 

fill heart, the psalm of praise to the Giver of life 
and light, and the earnest endeavor by head and 
hand force, to develop the outer and inner man, so 
as to live wisely and act righteously, growing up to 
the full stature of noble men and women. Thus 
the spirit developed into the higher man, puts away 
the begging prayer and communes with God. 

"As dowu iu the suuless retreats of the ocean, 
Sweet flowers are springing no mortal can see ; 
So deep in my sonl the still prayer of devotion 
Unheard by the world, rises silent to Thee, 
My God! Silent to Thee. Pure, warm, silent to Thee." 

"As still to the star of its worship tkough clouded, 
The needle points faithfully o'er the dim sea; 
So dark, when I roam in this wintry world shrouded. 
The hope of my spirit turns trembling to Thee, 
My God ! Trembling to Thee. True, sure, trembling to Thee." 

This communion with God, the best and truest 
prayer, is the unutterable. We feel it; words can 
not express it. It breathes forth in pure emo- 
tions; in godlike aspirations. Our spirits flee away 
from this body of earth, and are born children of 
heaven and heirs of God. It is when the soul 
rushes out to meet the Infinite, that true prayer 
passes over the face of the Spirit. -We seem to 
enter within the vail and tread the confines of other 
worlds. It is a realm of feeling and thought, which 
words have no power to portray. " It is a realm 
w^here presumptuous man had better not take 
plumb lines and levels." An ocean, he is foolish to 
attempt to fathom. In contemplating the Infinite, 



342 LECTURE, 

the soul is soon lost in the inner depths of conscious 
existence, and the mightiest thought is soon spent 
in the feeble effort to comprehend either the power 
that sustains us, or the thought itself that adorns. 
Like some rocket at night sent up from earth, it 
soon vanishes in mid-air. 

But the communion of the spirit with God, is 
the true prayer ; the highest and noblest thought. 
Man stands alone with God, and the sunlight of the 
Infinite shines in upon his little bodily garden, and 
unfolds the petals of many a spiritual flower. His 
mind revels in ideas in scientific and spiritual 
truths, and the vain babbling of words is dropped 
for an ineffable experience. 

Not in words or rapturous shout, 

But voiceless and joyous, the spirit goes out, 

And stands in the presence of God 

A child of heaven, new born ; 

Like some flower opening out of the sod, 

Greeting the sunlight of morn. 



